Is the spare stock in the system actually on the shelf?

Use quantities that answer different questions

On-hand stock describes what is present. Usable stock excludes items that cannot currently be supplied. Available stock also needs to account for existing commitments under the operation’s chosen rules. Make these definitions explicit so that sales and service do not use different numbers.

A case about Tracy Glover Studio published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) describes reorganising inventory and workflow as an operating improvement. It does not prove that a reader’s record is accurate. ELN’s reconciliation below is an original check to perform with the actual stock keeper.

Sources: National Institute of Standards and Technology — MEP: Company background, inventory/workflow challenge and described improvement process

Twelve in the system can leave five for the next request

Fictional example: the system says twelve units are on hand. An authorised physical count finds ten. Two of those ten are damaged and quarantined, leaving eight usable units. Three usable units are already reserved, leaving five available for an additional request.

The discrepancy is a prompt to investigate the records and movements, not proof of theft or any particular cause. Confirm reservations and the status of damaged units before making a new dispatch promise.

Correct the movement process as well as the balance

Check receipts, issues, returns, transfers, reservations and quarantine records. A one-off quantity adjustment can make today’s screen look right while leaving the process that caused the mismatch unchanged. Assign the investigation and record the evidence supporting any correction.

Choose a count/reconciliation routine based on the part, movement and service risk. This guide supplies no universal counting frequency or acceptable error rate.

Use the corrected figure in both service and replenishment decisions

The available quantity informs the next customer promise. The replenishment policy needs its own defined stock measure, incoming supply and commitments; do not apply a trigger to whichever number happens to be on the screen.

Before scaling U.S. service coverage, ask management to demonstrate a representative count, reconcile the differences and show that the revised record reaches the people taking orders.