Inventory Service Guide

Today we’ll discuss inventory services. This type of service is when a company has an outside group come to the company to count the inventory. We strongly believe that as technology evolves fewer and fewer companies will hire an outside team to come and count their inventory. Technology like radio frequency identification (RFID) will eventually be cost-effective enough to allow inventory counts to be done by a computer.

However currently it still makes sense for a lot of companies to hire specialists to come and perform the counting inventory service. Below are a few of the more popular organizations that perform inventory counts. If your inventory is in the telecommunications industry you may want to consider a telecom audit.

WIS International: http://www.wisintl.com/v2/

WIS is probably the most popular choice for inventory counting. They have some huge clients like Wal-Mart, JC Penney, and The Home Depot. However, the fact that they serve all of the bigger companies makes you wonder if they are a good choice for medium-to-small sized businesses.

WIS uses an interesting counting tool where the counters can enter information into the system with one hand. This allows their inventory counters to move and shuffle the inventory with their other hand. Who would have thought that counting inventory was such a science? In addition, the WIS technology uses radio frequency waves to transmit information from the counters to the workstations. This means you can watch the count progress because the data is continuously flowing.

Phyle Inventory Control Specialists (PICS): http://www.muscolino.com/

PICS company only services the United States. They do a professional job and they specialize in petroleum, grocery, hardware, and pharmacy/drugstore inventory counts. They have an interesting option of letting you rent out their counting equipment (this might be a good way to save a few bucks). You have to rent out the equipment through their sister company AST.

Accurate Inventory & Calculating Service (AICS): http://www.aicscompanies.com/

These guys are headquartered in Florida and have been in the business of counting for over 30 years. There website is really out of date and it is hard to determine where they offer their services. Feel free to contact them if you want more information.

Okay, now that we’ve discussed some of the popular outsourcing options for inventory service, let’s take a look at some of the other options.

Performing the inventory count yourself has some advantages. One of the main advantages is that you get to do it on your own timetable without someone interrupting your day-to-day business schedule. That being said, a lot of the external services are very good to work on your schedule.

Another debatable advantage of in-house inventory management services is that they cost less. Datascan, a company that rents out inventory counting equipment claims that on average their customers save 20% over outside counters. We think this number is debatable because you still have to buy or rent the equipment and train your employees on how to use the equipment and perform the counting. In addition, you have to pay your employees for the extra time it will take to count. Initially this method may actually be more expensive, but it may save your company money in the long run.

One disadvantage of performing the inventory count yourself is that when your company is audited by an accounting firm, they will likely not find your inventory count as reliable as they would if a third party had performed the count. This makes intuitive sense because a third party has less reason to want to overstate inventory than the actual company.

Inventory Management Service Options (Places to buy or rent inventory counting equipment)

Datascan: http://www.datascanlp.com/

This is an interesting option because Datascan actually doesn’t sell counting equipment. They rent the equipment and they perform all of the software and technology setup. This makes it so your company simply has to point and click to get the inventory count done. In addition they offer full customer support if you have any problems.

RGIS: http://www.rgis.com/

RGIS is another unique inventory service option. They consider themselves a one-stop inventory shop. Basically if you need anything done with your inventory (counting, control, streamlining, etc.) they will provide the service. Their most helpful service in our opinion is that they will “lend” you employees to help with your inventory needs. Companies that want to perform their own inventory counts often find themselves short on staff. You can contact RGIS to hire employees just long enough to perform the count.

That about sums up our discussion on inventory services. If you have any lingering questions, feel free to comment below. Thanks for visiting ClockWork Accounting Services.