From 2016 to 2017, I was responsible for the management of consumables in the Chengdu warehouse of an e-commerce platform. The main work content was the receipt and arrangement of packaging consumables (such as cartons, tapes, air bags, PE films, PE bags, printing paper, etc.). , inventory, quality inspection, etc. There’s nothing else to say about it, and it’s a bit interesting to take stock of it every day.
Daily inventory, that is, to count the remaining quantities of various consumables in the warehouse every day after get off work (or before work), so as to facilitate purchasing. At the same time, according to the quantity counted on the previous day and the quantity received on the day, the consumption of consumables on the day can also be calculated to facilitate the calculation of the cost of packaging materials on the day.
The consumption of consumables can reflect the delivery situation of the warehouse on the day to a certain extent: the larger the delivery, the greater the consumption of consumables. Carton and tape consumption tends to best reflect same-day shipments. There are seven sizes of cartons, No. 1-7. No. 1 is the largest, No. 7 is the smallest. Nos. 4 and 5 always consume the most. In addition, there are a large number of recycled cartons available, which are not included in the statistics. If the shipment of glass bottled products or other fragile items on the day is large, the corresponding inflatable bags, bubble films and other consumables used for filling and protection will consume more; If there are more goods, then the corresponding PE bags and PE films will be consumed more.
Paper consumables inventory
Due to the large variety and quantity of consumables, scattered storage locations, and large warehouse area, in order to get off work as soon as possible, I usually count the number of consumables in the areas that cannot be directly accessed about half an hour before the packaging line goes off work, and then I will use them directly. After the consumables in the area are counted, sit next to them and wait. If someone uses it, the corresponding amount is subtracted from this part of the data, and if someone returns it, the corresponding amount is added to this part of the data. In this way, at the same time as they get off work, my inventory data also comes out. Finally, as long as there is no abnormality in the consumption of consumables on the day calculated by the formula (the inventory of consumables on the previous day + the inventory of consumables on the current day – the inventory of consumables on the current day = the consumption of consumables today). If the data is not normal, then you may need to count again.
After doing it for a long time, I can even estimate the consumption of consumables on the day according to the order quantity of the day, the system’s box judgment, delivery situation and other factors, and then pass (the inventory of consumables on the previous day + the inventory of consumables on the current day – Estimated consumption of consumables on the day = estimated inventory of consumables on the day) This formula calculates the estimated inventory of consumables on the day, and then takes this result to inventory. Doing this can largely avoid errors, because if the counted data and the estimated data have a large deviation, there is likely to be a problem, and I will immediately repeat the count instead of waiting until the end.
Electronic version of consumables inventory (mobile phone screenshot)
With such a “real-time error correction” tool in hand, I began to further optimize the inventory process. The consumables in the non-direct access area are almost untouched, so there is no need to count them every day. After I counted it again, I took a photo, marked the number of consumables that appeared on the map, and printed it out on A4 paper. In this way, the next time you go, you only need to compare whether it is consistent with the picture. If it is consistent, use the above data directly. Over time, until the A4 paper on which the photos were printed faded, and the consumables there remained unchanged.
Later, things changed a bit. To save costs, the warehouse requires packers to use more recycling bins and less custom-made cartons. Because recycling boxes cost no money, and custom-made cartons cost about two yuan on average. At this time, the inventory can not only pursue the correct data. If the use of cartons is too large, it will attract the attention of supervisors and warehouse managers and ask us: “Is the data you counted accurate?” “Why is the utilization rate of recycling boxes so low?”
However, the use of recycled cartons is limited: detergent boxes can only be used for packages that do not contain food and maternity products; larger, irregularly shaped boxes are sometimes difficult to encounter with the same shape. Regular merchandise. However, the main reason is that many packers are reluctant to use recycling boxes in order to improve packaging efficiency. Because they are very familiar with the size of the custom-made carton, they can probably know what size to use at a glance, and the size of the recycling box sometimes has to be put into it to try to know if it is suitable. Sometimes, though, recycling bins are more popular because they are usually of better quality and are suitable for heavier items such as rice, cooking oil, etc. Whenever there is a promotion like this, the recycling bin is always overused.
Be reasonable with your leaders, no matter whether you win or lose, you are the one who suffers. Therefore, in order to make the inventory data more in line with the leader’s preferences, I discussed with my colleagues at the same post: if the data obtained from the inventory shows that the consumption of customized cartons on the day is too large, the data will be “beautified” a little, and the carton of the day will be “beautified”. The usage is controlled below a certain value, and this part of the data that is not accounted for is spread over the next few days.
Electronic version of consumables inventory (computer screen photo)
This “specific value” can be adjusted based on the number of shipping boxes. For example, the number of shipping boxes on the day is 25,650 boxes, and the actual consumption of customized cartons is 24,380. According to the formula [(the actual number of shipping boxes – the consumption of customized cartons) ÷ the actual number of shipping boxes = the utilization rate of recycling boxes], we can see that The actual utilization rate of recycling boxes is about 5%, and the leader’s requirement is to reach 10%, that is to say, the consumption of custom cartons obtained from the inventory cannot be higher than 23085 (nor exactly equal to this number, otherwise it will be too fake). In fact, as long as the difference is not too much, there will be no problem, so it can be written as 23380, so that the utilization rate of the recycling bin is about 9%. In the next few days, the packers were urged to use more recycling bins to increase the actual recycling bin usage rate. For example, when the actual recycling bin usage rate is increased to 15%, the 1,000 falsely reported are added to make it back to about 10%.
There are also times when the utilization rate of recycling bins cannot be increased for several days in a row, then only false data can be reported. do everything fine.
This way, the data looks much better. Although these figures do not reflect daily reality, there is nothing wrong with it in the long run. Because they want normal, reasonable data, not accurate, real data. What’s more, as long as there is such a data, no one will doubt the actual situation if the leaders don’t ask questions and the employees don’t get criticized. That’s enough, everyone is happy, isn’t it?
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