Van Cycle Counts

So, you want to cycle count your vans.  ESC gives you the tools to do this, but not necessarily to evaluate the results.  So, I'm going to run through the process I use.  This isn't an in depth look at the cycle count process, but rather the evaluation of the results afterward.

Some of you have seen some of my negative comments on the output formats from ESC report exports.  We are going to trip over a couple of examples, it's not a huge deal.

So, during the cycle count process, I have our parts lady export the Warehouse Detail report for the van under scrutiny at 2 points.

1) Before starting.  This gives me a baseline of what we expect to be in the van.

After the first export, we print a Physical worksheet for the van sorted by bin.  Initially this is scanned for items that are not van stock.  It's pretty straight forward as none of those parts will have a bin assigned and they'll be at the start of the list.  These need to be found, or or corrected in ESC.  If you don't do this, they will all disappear when you 0 the counts in the van.  You can go back and try to resolve it later, but it's easier now.

Zero out the van with the Inventory Adjustment function.  At this point if you do a warehouse detail report it should have zero parts in it, with the exception of serialized parts, which will not get zeroed in this manner.

As I side note, I generally have a reorder report run on the van at this time.  To the best of my knowledge this is the only way to get a van parts list with the  inventory min/max data on the list so you can see what the van should have in it as a baseline.

Once all the parts in the van have been scanned back into ESC we............

2) Export the warehouse detail report again.

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I have an Excel template set up that looks like:

The exports from before and after the count look like this:

As you can see there are a lot of combined, split, and otherwise honked up cells and columns that the export program throws into the report.  We have to get rid of them before proceeding.

On the pre export, I sequentially

1) delete rows 1 - 7

2) delete columns b & c

3) delete columns c & d   (hence the sequentially, you aren't deleting the same data twice)

4) delete column e (go ahead, it's all right, you aren't really deleting the data that appears to be in that column)

You'll probably have to make column d wider to see the data when it repositions.

On the post export, in step 1 delete b, c & d because you don't need the description twice.  Adjust the other deletions accordingly.

On the cycle count template above, copy the item lines from the pre export into columns A -D starting in row 10.

Then copy the item lines from the post export into columns E, F, & G, also starting in row 10.

A couple of notes about the cycle count work sheet.  It compares the part number from the pre count  with the part number on the post count.  If it matches, you see "ok" on the right side.  If it doesn't, you get "Error".  This lets you line up the items so the data from the pre count and post count line up.  It's takes a bit of cut and paste, depending on how hosed the cycle count is.

The result should look something like:

As you can see, the 4th line shows and error when will be resolved when I move the post count columns down a row so that 0100119 matches that number on the Pre count line.

If you enter a matching part number in the vacated post count row, the error will go away.

That was very windy, and probably looked more complex than it is.  Once you've done it a few times it takes a few minutes per van.

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So, now the manipulated worksheet lookls like this:

So, what does all that mean?  Looking at linke 4 we can see that ESC had one of part 0100017 in that van.  It was missing.  So the Change set of columns shows that we are missing one, and what the value is.  If you look at the totals above the column it says that we are down a total of 13 parts valued at $292.70.  And that may be all you really need.  It depends on your owner.  Being slightly anal retentive about numbers and errors, the Accuracy Overall columns show the mathematical absolute value of the error.

That total is 15, with a total $ of $316.90.  This is pretty minor, but on really honked up vans this can run to hundreds of dollars difference.  This tells us how many errors in total were made in this van.  Please bear in mind that this may, or may not be the van technicians error.  We are just looking at  errors, not sources, although it will also help you sort those out.

An acceptable cycle count is 95% or better, or 105% or less if it's reversed.  Some day I'll sort that out.  We cycle count the vans twice a year.  Your mileage may vary, but the 95% number is the nationally accepted accuracy for cycle counts.  One of the reasons for doing them as opposed to doing a year end count.

I'm willing to provide the template if anyone is interested, but not willing to post my email, so I'll ask Scott to filter those and forward your requests to me.  Scott, if this is a problem, just let us know.

Hope this helps someone, somewhere.

Rick

 

 

 

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Comments

8 comments
  • Rick, that is never a problem!

    We get adjustment/cycle count questions daily, so this is incredibly helpful. 

    There's a lot of moving parts in physical inventory/cycles, so it's important to note, once you've done this a few times (as Rick said) you'll find it can only take minutes per truck/warehouse.

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  • Rick,

    You appear to be pretty dug into the program.  We have been on Wintac for 12+ years and are in the process of switching to ESC.  We have been working on the transition for three months and need to go live but am running into multiple hurdles.  Do you some time to chat today?  I am hoping you may be able to share some tips and tricks with us.  In particular, we are using ESC for our flat rating (we build over 1100 flat rate tasks in Wintac) and it does not price as I would expect...I am hoping that I may be overlooking something simple.

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  • Rich,

    I'd be happy to talk to you.  We don't use the flat rate pricing much, although I have messed with it a bit.

    I'd suggest speaking with Scott first. if you would still like to talk to me he can give you my contact information.  I'll be in the shop all day with a 1PM to 2PM break for lunch, and leaving around 4:30PM .  We are on Pacific Time.

    Rick

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  • Thank you Rick!  Is Scott someone at ESC?

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  • Thanks Rick, I'll get a ticket setup so we can reach out to Rich. Depending on how that conversation goes, I'll provide your contact info. Great collaboration guys!

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  • Yes he is :)

    I just submitted a ticket for you, Rich. We'll reach out to you as soon as a tech is available and see what we can come up with. Either way, we'll be getting you squared away.

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  • Rich,

    Scott Haugsjaa is our community moderator.  See the prior message.  : )

     

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  • Hi Scott,

    I just got your email...I will respond to it.  Thank you!

     

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