It has been the general custom in a large manufacturing establishment to shut down for a period of greater or less duration, running all the way from two or three days to as many weeks, for the purpose of taking an inventory. Since it has been considered necessary to shut down for this purpose, inventories have, as a rule, been taken but once a year. All this is unnecessary, for, with proper methods, it is possible to take even a complete inventory without perceptible interruption of the operation of the plant. The first step is to decide, at just what time the inventory is to be taken, and to have all foremen get their shops in readiness. This means a general cleaning up which will make it easy to locate and count, weigh, or measure the materials, tools, supplies, and work in process. Then, at a specified time the work of taking the inventory should be started simultaneously in every shop.
The making of the necessary records will be in charge of a clerk who will be assisted by the foremen and as many helpers as may be required. Each clerk is given a supply of tags, ruled as shown in Fig. 14. These are made in the form of shipping tags, but larger than the usual sizes used for that purpose. It will be noted that the tag is perforated near the top. The portion above the perforation shows the season and date of inventory, the card number, and the department. The card number and the department are repeated on the lower part of the card, which is also divided into two parts. The upper half is for an inventory of material, finished stores, and work in process, divided as to description, name of last operation, the quantity, and the unit. The lower half is for an inventory of tools, machinery, equipment, and supplies, with provision for the description, quantity, unit, numbers, and location. By unit is meant the unit in which the material or supplies are priced, as pounds, yards, dozen, gross, etc.
The first operation is to attach one of these cards, which are consecutively numbered, to each machine, tool, bin, rack, or pile of material. Then the clerk and his assistants will go through the shop and weigh and count the material represented by each tag, recording the items on the tag itself. As this is done, the lower half of the tag is torn off. Since a record is kept of the card numbers given to each clerk, it will be necessary for him to turn in every one, and if care is used in placing the tag on every article before the count has begun, there is no possibility of material being overlooked. As a further precaution against the loss of cards, the remaining part of the tag is afterward removed and sent to the office for checking against the main record. As the tag is used merely to insure a record of quantities of all property, it is unnecessary to include prices.
Fig. 14. Labor-Saving Inventory Tag
With this method an inventory can be taken in a very short time. There are cases on record where an inventory in the largest industrial enterprises has been taken by this method without shutting down the plant in any department for a longer period than two days.
18. Inventory Records. When the physical inventory has been taken, the next step is to record quantities and prices, and make the extensions that the record may show total values. The records of the inventory should be classified; that is, all material or equipment of a certain class should be recorded on the same form, so that the total value of each class can be ascertained.
For a manufacturing business, the inventory is subdivided as follows:
Machinery and Equipment.
Machine Tools.
Small Tools.
Drawings and Patterns.
Materials and Supplies.
Parts and Finished Stores.
Work in Process.
Manufactured Goods.