From 80% to 95% Inventory Accuracy: When to Correct the Warehouse Record
A camera records an empty pick location, but the warehouse management system still shows units available and customer orders are waiting. The picker needs to know whether to stop, while inventory control needs to establish whether the units are missing, moving, or already committed elsewhere. Changing the balance immediately can create a second discrepancy if a pick or transfer is still open. Leaving it untouched can allow another order to be promised against stock the team cannot find. A useful process therefore separates three decisions: whether to hold the stock, how to verify the observation, and who has authority to correct the record.
Verify What Happened When the Image Was Taken
Joseph Mirabile, vice president of operations at Gather AI, says the first step is to check the image, location and timestamp against the warehouse record. A pick, putaway or move may still have been open when the scan occurred. In that case, a legitimate timing difference can look like an inventory error. “The scan should start the correction, not make it automatically,” he told The Supply Chainer.
Hold Stock When a Customer Order Is at Risk
Mirabile advises a prompt hold if the discrepancy could cause the wrong shipment or leave an order unfilled. An apparently empty location with open orders, a wrong lot in the pick face or expired product are examples he gave. An overage or a variance on a slow-moving item can usually wait for the next scheduled count. That makes the response proportional to the risk instead of turning every mismatch into a stop on the floor.
Earlier reporting on marketplace inventory identified another place where mismatches can arise. Blaine Nielsen, president of retailers at Rithum, said: “They emerge at the handoffs when inventory data moves between an ERP, OMS, WMS, marketplaces and dropship suppliers.” He was describing stock visibility across connected systems. For a warehouse deciding what to hold, the practical implication is to check which system last recorded the movement and whether the change has reached the systems that still promise the stock.
Put Inventory Control in Charge of the Adjustment
Mirabile recommends that inventory control own the correction and record what was seen, when it was seen, who approved it and the cause. In an example he supplied, KeHE had assumed 98% accuracy at a warehouse. Gather AI measured 80%, and Mirabile said accuracy reached 95% after the discrepancies were worked through. The figures come from the supplier’s account, which did not specify a timeframe or isolate the contribution of the technology.
An audit trail makes it possible to ask whether the same location, shift or process repeatedly produces mismatches. Closing the immediate variance can get an order moving again. Finding the recurring cause can reduce the number of exceptions the warehouse has to handle next time.
