The challenge
Stock was tracked in separate spreadsheets per depot, reconciled monthly. By the time a discrepancy was found, the cause was untraceable. Sales regularly promised stock that had already been allocated, and the annual physical count required closing operations for two days.
What we did
We implemented bin-level location tracking with barcode scanning for every stock movement, replacing manual entry entirely. Cycle counting was introduced on a rolling schedule by velocity class so counting became continuous rather than an annual shutdown. Stock reservation at order entry closed the over-promising gap. Rollout was depot by depot, starting with the two worst-performing sites.
The outcome
Stock accuracy improved substantially within two quarters and the annual shutdown count was discontinued in favour of rolling cycle counts. Sales teams gained live availability across all depots, which reduced inter-depot emergency transfers noticeably.