ShipHero's dynamic slotting cycle count feature allows you to create custom cycles based on your business needs. Cycles are lists of SKUs or locations that you would like counted.
ShipHero provides 3 cycle count options for dynamic slotting:
- Count by Locations
- Count by Items
- Count Items Flagged for Recount
NOTE: While performing cycle counts, the location becomes unpickable until the cycle count has been completed.
How to Choose a Cycle Type
Each of the 3 cycle types has specific pros and cons to consider.
Count by Locations
Advantages:
- Used for confirming the accuracy of a location.
- Great for catching items that should not be in a location.
- You can sort by location type (bins, pallets, etc.).
- You can sort by location prefix.
- If you find an unexpected SKU in the location, you can scan it in and add it
Disadvantages:
- Must count all items in the location, not just specific SKUs.
- Unable to sort by a particular customer because 1 area may have SKUs for multiple customers.
Count by Items
Advantages:
- Very flexible! Used for counting a specific SKU.
- Great for counting SKU for a particular customer.
- Can Tag SKU and then count by tag.
- Allows you to tag all products that you want to be counted every month (high selling), every quarter (medium), or yearly (slow sellers), then make a cycle based on the tag (similar to ABC counting).
Disadvantages:
- When sent to a location, you only count the assigned SKU, not the entire location.
- Will not identify if the bin as a whole is accurate; only cares about the SKUs in that cycle.
- If an SKU is in a location it is not assigned to, this type of count will not catch it - you will need a location cycle count.
- Item cycle counts will only send the counter to all locations assigned to that SKU
Count by Items Flagged for Recount
Advantages:
- Very focused, only counts SKUs that need a recount.
- Can assign a manager or experienced user to count these SKUs.
- Counts need 2 consecutive counts with the same discrepancy before updating on hand in that bin.
Disadvantages:
- Similar to an SKU Count; only counts SKUs that are a part of this cycle, not the entire location.
- Will not identify if the bin as a whole is accurate.