Inventory Management

Receiving clerk pulls the open PO in the ERP (NetSuite, Epicor, Dynamics 365 BC) and matches part number, quantity, and revision against the packing slip. Flag overships, undership, substitutions, or wrong rev — do not receive against the PO until reconciled with the buyer.

Photograph crushed cartons, leaking drums, or shifted loads before unloading. Note exceptions on the BOL before the driver leaves — claims against the carrier are nearly impossible to win after the BOL is signed clean.

Tag the lot HOLD, segregate to the quarantine cage, and open an NCR in the QMS naming the supplier, PO, lot, and damage type. Notify the buyer same-day so the supplier is on the hook for replacement before the production schedule slips.

For traceable material — raw stock, castings, fasteners on AS9100 or IATF 16949 jobs — capture lot/heat numbers and attach the C of C or mill cert in the ERP receipt. Missing certs block release-to-floor; chase the supplier before the material is needed on a WO.

Quality inspector samples per ANSI Z1.4 — full inspection on first article from a new supplier, reduced sampling on AVL parts with PPM under threshold. Verify critical dimensions on the inspection sheet and PMI any alloy where a wrong-material mix-up is plausible (stainless vs. carbon).

Post the receipt in NetSuite / Epicor / Dynamics with the actual quantity received, lot, and bin location. Do not back-date receipts — the receipt date drives supplier OTD scoring and AP three-way match.

Material handler scans the license plate to the bin per the WMS or ERP-directed location. Free-staging on the receiving dock is the single biggest source of cycle-count variance — stage time should be measured in hours, not days.

For adhesives, resins, gaskets, and any material with a shelf life or pot life, confirm older lots are pulled first. Place new receipts behind existing stock and re-label the bin face with the earliest expiration.

Solvents, paints, and oxidizers go to the flammable cabinet or the chemical storage room with secondary containment. Confirm the SDS is in the binder and the NFPA 704 placard matches the chemical — HazCom citations come from the gap between what's stored and what's documented.

Print a fresh barcode label for any new SKU and verify the bin tag matches the part number and rev. Mismatched labels are a top finding on layered process audits.

Materials planner runs the ERP reorder report — items below ROP, kanban cards in the red zone, and any item on a min/max policy. Cross-check against open POs so you don't double-order on items already in transit.

Visual check beats system data when card discipline is loose. Empty bins with no card pulled point to broken kanban — flag the cell lead and reset the loop before the line starves.

Pull the inventory aging report — anything over 12 months on hand for ABC class C, over 6 months for class A. Tag for engineering review (still on a current BOM?), then for finance write-down or scrap disposition.

Buyer releases POs from the planner's reorder list and works the expedite list with suppliers — confirmed dates, not requested dates. Escalate any line item where supplier confirmation puts a scheduled WO at risk.

Use ABC frequency — A items quarterly, B items semi-annually, C items annually — and pull today's list from the ERP cycle-count module. Freeze the bins on the list to prevent transactions during the count.

Counter records actual quantity on a sheet without seeing the system quantity. Showing the system count first defeats the purpose — counters subconsciously match the expected number and real shrink stays hidden.

Recount, then check for unposted receipts, mis-staged WIP, wrong UOM, or a pull from an adjacent bin. Adjusting inventory without root cause hides real shrink (theft, scrap not reported, mis-pick) for years.

Inventory control supervisor reviews and posts the adjustment with the root-cause code attached. Adjustments above the materiality threshold need controller sign-off — set the threshold by part value, not by quantity.

Refresh the operations dashboard with cycle-count accuracy (target 98%+ on A items), inventory turns, and days on hand. Trend by ABC class — a single class-A miss masks several class-C wins.

Pareto the week's variance root causes with the materials planner, cell leads, and inventory control. Open a CAR on any pattern that shows up twice — closing variances one at a time without a CAR is how the same problem reappears next quarter.