Inventory Control Checklist

Pull the ABC report from NetSuite, Epicor, or Dynamics — whichever drives your item master. A items (top 80% of usage value) get cycle-counted monthly; B items quarterly; C items annually. If the last analysis is older than 12 months, the count cadence is stale.

Lock receipts, issues, and WO backflush during the count window. Coordinate with production scheduling — anything mid-route stays in WIP and is counted separately. Failing to freeze is the #1 reason cycle counts disagree with the system for reasons that have nothing to do with real shrink.

Walk counters through blind-count rules (no system quantity visible on the sheet), lot/heat capture for traceable material, and the variance escalation threshold. New counters always pair with an experienced counter for the first day.

Cover the raw stockroom, line-side kanbans, and any WIP staged at work centers. Capture lot/heat numbers on traceable material — stainless, alloy steel, food-contact resin — so the count doubles as a traceability audit.

A items get a blind recount by a second counter. Disagreement between the two counts triggers a third count before the result goes into the reconciliation worksheet.

Tag anything with no movement in 12+ months, expired shelf life (epoxy, adhesives, food-grade resin), or revs superseded by an ECN. Segregate to the obsolete cage pending disposition — don't write off during the count.

Variance over the materiality threshold (commonly 2% of item value or any single SKU over $500) requires investigation before adjustment. Do not auto-post adjustments through the threshold — that's how real shrink hides for years.

Run 5-why on each material variance. Common root causes: unreported scrap, miscounted receipts, BOM consumption errors on backflush, mis-staged kits, mis-located bins, theft. Document the cause code per SKU.

Plant manager signs off on write-offs above the threshold. Hazardous material (solvents, plating chemistry) routes to the EHS-approved waste stream with manifest under your RCRA generator status — not the dumpster.

Update ROP using current average daily usage × supplier lead time, plus safety stock sized to demand variability and supplier OTD. Items where supplier OTD has slipped below 90% need a safety-stock bump until the supplier scorecard recovers.

Recompute kanban card count using the takt-based formula: (avg demand × replenishment lead time × safety factor) / container quantity. Flag any line where the new count differs from current by more than one card — those need a walk-the-line review with the cell lead.

Pull OTD %, PPM defective, and lead-time variance per supplier from the last quarter. Suppliers below threshold get a corrective action request from the buyer. Sole-source items with poor scores trigger a second-source feasibility review.

Report record accuracy (% SKUs within tolerance), inventory turns, days on hand, and total adjustment value. Trend against the prior three quarters — a single quarter in isolation hides whether things are improving.