Count the warehousewithout stopping the warehouse.
WMSHero schedules small, rolling counts by zone, ABC class or velocity, so part of your inventory is counted each day alongside normal operations. Counters work blind on Android handhelds, and variances go to a review queue before inventory is adjusted.
An annual count finds discrepancies months after they start.
A once-a-year physical count usually means pausing operations, moving people off their regular work and finding out at once how far the records have drifted over twelve months. Purchasing and fulfillment decisions made in the meantime relied on those records. Cycle counting spreads the work across the year in small counts, so discrepancies are found closer to when they happen.
Full counts interrupt operations
A full physical count typically pauses receiving and shipping, takes a weekend or more and adds overtime. Once it's done, records start to drift again until the next one.
Discrepancies build up between counts
Miscounts, picking errors and shrink add up over months. When the count happens once a year, it's harder to find out who, when and why.
Showing the expected quantity biases the count
When a counter sees the expected number first, it's easier to confirm it than to count. Blind counts, where the expected quantity is hidden, give you a measured number and a more reliable accuracy figure.
From schedule to reviewed count in three steps.
WMSHero builds the day's count tasks, gives counters a blind list and compares each result with the on-hand quantity when it's submitted.
WMSHero builds the day's tasks
Set the cadence by zone, ABC class or velocity. Each day WMSHero generates the count tasks that are due and assigns them to counters and devices.
The counter counts blind
The handheld shows the SKU and location but not the expected quantity. The counter scans and enters what's on the shelf.
Matches close, variances are flagged
A count that matches closes the task and confirms the on-hand quantity. A count that doesn't match opens a variance with its details and a recount task, and inventory isn't adjusted until the variance is reviewed.
Variances held for review, with the count details.
When a counted quantity doesn't match the system, WMSHero doesn't overwrite the on-hand quantity. It opens a variance showing the counter, device, location, lot, expected quantity and counted quantity, and holds it for review before inventory is adjusted.
- Variances over a threshold you set (by value, units or percent) are flagged automatically
- Each variance records user, device, location, lot and time
- Approve, adjust or send to recount from the review queue
- Resolved variances are written to the audit log
Count fast movers more often than the long tail.
SKUs don't all need the same attention. In ABC classification, Class A items are the smaller share of SKUs that account for most of your volume or value, so a count error there has the biggest effect. Slow movers can be counted less often.
Set a cadence per ABC class, zone or velocity band, and WMSHero builds each day's count queue from it. Fast-moving, high-value stock can be counted weekly while the rest is covered over a longer cycle.
- Cadence by ABC class, zone or movement velocity
- Count tasks spread across days to balance the daily workload
- New high-velocity SKUs added to the rotation automatically
Where count results are used.
See cycle counting in WMSHero.
Book a 30-minute walkthrough of count scheduling, blind counts and variance review, focused on your warehouse and requirements.