Where unit mistakes come from
Most distributors trade the same item in two or three units. The supplier sells cartons, the shop buys packs and the van sells single pieces. Every one of those lines carries a number and a unit, and a correct number in the wrong unit is wrong by the whole carton size.
The mistakes look small on screen and large in the stock. A rep who types 10 meaning cartons and records 10 pieces under-bills the customer and leaves the van count wrong for days.
TipShow the unit next to every quantity on screens and printouts, so nobody has to assume it.
Pick one base unit per item and keep it
The base unit is the unit stock is held and valued in. Choose the smallest unit you ever sell, count or issue, usually the piece, so every other unit is a whole number of it. If you sell single bottles from a van, the bottle is the base unit even if the warehouse never opens a carton.
Once stock has moved, leave the base unit alone. Changing it rewrites every balance, cost and history line, and the figures before and after no longer compare.
- Piece or bottle for goods sold singly
- Kilo or litre for goods sold by weight or volume
- Pack only if a pack is never split
- Never the carton if anyone sells less than a carton
Record each item’s own carton size
A carton is not a fixed size. One item’s carton holds 24, another holds 12, and the same supplier may ship 6 or 30. Store the conversion on the item, not as a company-wide rule, and write it as a whole number of base units, such as 24 pieces to 1 carton.
When a supplier changes the carton size, do not edit the old conversion while stock in the old cartons remains. Add a new unit for the new carton and retire the old one once it has sold through, so receipts and counts of the old cartons still convert correctly.
TipCheck the carton size printed on the first delivery against the conversion on file before posting the receipt.
Name units so nobody guesses
A unit’s name says what kind of pack it is, and the item’s conversion says how many it holds. Show both on order lines and pick lists, so a picker reads carton of 24 rather than just carton. A name like box tells nobody how many pieces are inside.
- One list of units for the whole company
- One spelling per unit, in both languages
- No two names for the same kind of pack
- Weight and volume units named by their measure
- The pack size printed beside the unit on pick lists
Price each unit on purpose
A carton price is rarely just the piece price times the carton size. Distributors usually give a little back for buying whole cartons, and charge a little more for breaking them. Set a price for each unit you sell, rather than letting a system multiply, so the difference is a decision and not an accident.
TipReview piece and carton prices together, so a change to one does not make the other look cheap by mistake.
Give each unit its own barcode
Most manufacturers print one barcode on the piece and another on the carton. Record both, each against its own unit, so scanning a carton at the dock adds a carton and not a single piece. A barcode recorded against the wrong unit is a unit mistake that repeats on every scan.
Check too that each barcode belongs to one item only. A code reused for a new flavour or size sends every scan to the old item.
Count in the unit on the shelf
Counters see full cartons and loose pieces, not totals. Let them enter each separately and let the system convert, rather than asking them to multiply in their heads. The same goes for receipts: receive in the unit on the delivery note.
TipKeep each item’s opened cartons in one place, so loose pieces are counted once and never missed.
Checklist: Units checklist
- Choose a base unit for every item
- Make it the smallest unit anyone sells or counts
- Record each item’s carton and pack sizes
- Add a new unit when a supplier changes the carton
- Keep one list of unit names
- Set a price for each unit you sell
- Record a barcode against each unit
- Count full cartons and loose pieces separately