40 DC VELOCITY MARCH 2015 www.dcvelocity.com
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handhelds, wearables, voice units, and tablets—can be
pressed into service, with each having its strengths and
weaknesses. The type of organization, product, and who is
conducting the count will all factor into the choice of mobile
device, according to Chase Sowden, supply chain architect
at Barcoding Inc., a supplier of mobile technology. What
follows is a brief description of the types of mobile devices
that can be used and some of the advantages they offer:
; Handheld devices: Mobile computers with bar-code
scanning capabilities allow the user to scan bar codes for
both the location and item, and then key in the count. The
scanning ensures that the worker is counting the right item
at the right location.
In addition to bar-code scanning capabilities, some
companies configure their handhelds so they can perform
RFID scanning as well. When it comes to counting items
swiftly, nothing beats RFID because RFID doesn’t require
line-of-sight reads, according to Wheeler. Stubbs, however,
believes that RFID scanning is best reserved for special circumstances, such as cases where you are picking “eaches”
(individual items) and an RFID tag is already associated
with each item for tracking purposes.
; Wearables: Scanners that are worn on the wrist or finger (as opposed to being carried) also work well for cycle
counting. Among other advantages, you never have to set
the device down, and you can reach into a location or slot
to move items around while you count, Sowden says. He
does warn that wearables tend to have a small display, limiting the amount of information you can see. But Wheeler
doesn’t see that as an insurmountable obstacle: a wearable
can always be connected by a tether to a handheld or by
Bluetooth to a handheld or tablet device, he says.
; Voice: Voice systems are considered to be particularly
well suited to cycle counting, especially when the cycle
counts are being interleaved into the picking process.
Counts can easily be confirmed with a voice command,
eliminating the need to type in quantities and reducing the
chances of data entry errors, according to Jay Blinderman,
director of product marketing for voice system developer
Vocollect. Also, because workers are not holding a device,
they’re more apt to reach into the slot to conduct their
counts, making it less likely they’ll miss an item. And
because they’re not looking back and forth between a
screen and an item’s location, they’re less likely to count
items in the wrong slot by mistake. Voice can also be used
in conjunction with scanners and handhelds if companies
need to confirm information such as lot or serial numbers,
says Howes.
; Tablets: Recent advances in industrial tablets—especially
with regard to their scanning capabilities—have made them
much more suitable for cycle counting than they’ve been in
the past. “The advantage of a tablet is it has a bigger screen
so it displays more information,” Sowden says. “And if you
want to look something up or check something in another
program, it’s easier to toggle between cycle counting and
other software on a tablet than on a scanner or handheld.”
According to Wheeler, tablets are especially well suited to
conducting research associated with problem resolution, as
they can quickly send unstructured queries to the WMS to
help determine the root cause of errors.
No matter what device you employ, it’s crucial not to
overlook the most important element in effective cycle
counting: the employees themselves. Sowden cautions that
it’s easy for employees to dismiss cycle counting as busywork and not take it seriously. Companies need to ensure
that people on the warehouse floor buy into the process and
understand the business case.
“It doesn’t matter what the technology may be,” Sowden
says. “If people don’t take ownership and understand the
impact of inventory accuracy on the business and how it
affects them, they won’t get it right.” ;
Senior Editor Toby Gooley contributed to this report.
Cycle counting 101
For many companies, cycle counting has replaced the
traditional physical inventory count, which involves
shutting down a facility or bringing people in during
off hours to conduct a count. Although physical
inventory counts are still favored by some auditors,
they are tedious, time-consuming, labor-intensive,
and inevitably inaccurate.
By contrast, cycle counting involves validating
inventory accuracy on a continual basis, by counting
a portion of the inventory at regular intervals. Cycle
counts typically entail recording the type of product,
the product’s location, and the quantity. They can
also be expanded to include information like expiration dates, serial numbers, and lot numbers. The frequency of those counts will vary based on the velocity
of the product and sometimes the value, according
to Jeff Ross, vice president of consulting at Forte.
Generally, it makes sense to count faster-moving and/
or more valuable items more frequently.
To determine the optimal frequency for the counts
and keep the database updated, most organizations
rely on sophisticated software. This might be a warehouse management system (WMS) or a warehouse
execution system (a hybrid of an WMS and warehouse control system) that can not only see what is
on hand but also forecast demand for a particular
item, according to Michael Howes, vice president of
software engineering at Forte.
In many operations, particularly larger DCs, cycle
counting is performed by a specialized inventory
control staff whose full-time job is to count inventory
each day.
