As a manufacturing company owner or plant manager, you know that you are only as good as the last order you shipped. Loyal customers who may have received excellent product and service for years from you can become flight risks when they experience a season of delayed orders or mistakes.

Improper hiring, training and management can lead to challenges for sure. But there is a larger culprit that will kill productivity and profitability - even if you have the best people working on the floor.

Cycle Counting is an easy and effective way to assure that you have the inventory you need for your production floor or customer demand is met by maintaining accurate inventory records. The key purpose of cycle counting is to identify items in error, thus triggering research, identification and elimination of the cause of the errors.  This technique is critical for any type of lean initiative.

A significant portion of your company's valuation at the time of sale will come from the historical (2-5 year) trend of how well the company controlled the inventory accuracy.  Companies that sweep this issue under the rug are seen as "lifestyle" businesses - and given low valuations. Companies that invest in processes that maximize inventory accuracy and thus customer service levels, are seen as "institutionalized" businesses that can be scaled rapidly post-acquisition - and are valued as such.

This session will define what inventory is, what costs are tied to inventory, and why accuracy of the inventory is key.  By implementing a cycle count program you will be able to improve customer service, insure a more efficient operation, reduce inventory levels, achieve a higher return on your investment, eliminate physical inventories and save time in just about every department in your organization.

In this session, industry expert and CEO of Guardian Business Solutions Bridget Lazlo, CPIM, CSCP will use case studies to demonstrate how company owners can quickly identify profit leaks related to inaccurate inventories - and put systems and processes in place to prevent them. 

Pursuing the best practices presented in this session will position your company for a significantly better profitability (short-term) and a much better valuation (long-term). 

Upon completion of this session you will understand what is and how to calculate the ABC value of your inventory.  This is important on many levels, including spending appropriate amounts of time and using the right techniques for ordering, storing and counting items. 

Next you will be able to implement your own inventory control group that will help identify process issues.   Process issues that once identified can be eliminated, improving your investment in inventory and inventory management.

Once you have minimized inventory errors you will have the tools to do regular cycle count and eliminate the need to do full physicals once a year!  Imagine not having to shut down your plant for a few days or having your staff come in over the weekend to count inventory and all the new errors that are introduced during the process.  Not to mention employee and customer satisfaction.