A full count over one weekend: schedule by shift

A mid-size warehouse can be counted over a weekend if the zone plan, the teams and the timetable are settled beforehand. What fails on a Saturday morning rarely fails because of counting speed, but because of waiting time: sheets are not printed, a team stands in front of a locked door, the second count cannot begin because the first count is still running. A fixed shift schedule removes this friction. The sample timetable below is fictional and can be recalculated with your own figures.

The assumptions of the example

A warehouse with 4,200 count positions in 10 zones of 420 positions each. Two groups of 10 count teams of two people each, one group for the early shift, one for the late shift. One team manages 40 positions an hour. A shift lasts eight hours, of which six are pure counting time; the rest goes on briefing, break, return of the sheets and walking.

It follows that one group manages 10 × 6 × 40 = 2,400 positions per shift. First count and second count together need 4,200 × 2 = 8,400 positions. That is 8,400 ÷ 2,400 = 3.5 shifts, so four shifts with a reserve.

The timetable by shift

• Friday, 18:00: cut-off time and document cut-off. 18:30: stock extract taken and frozen. After that, print sheets, prepare the issue log, mark the zones.
• Saturday, 06:00 to 14:00, group A: first count of zones 1 to 5 with 2,100 positions.
• Saturday, 14:00 to 22:00, group B: first count of zones 6 to 10 with 2,100 positions.
• Sunday, 06:00 to 14:00, group A: second count of zones 6 to 10, so not their own zones.
• Sunday, 14:00 to 22:00, group B: second count of zones 1 to 5.
• Sunday, 22:00 to 24:00: buffer, third count on deviations, gap control across all sheets.
• Monday, 08:00: first analysis and reconciliation with the book stock.

The structure of one shift (example early shift): 06:00 to 06:30 briefing and issue of sheets, 06:30 to 09:30 counting, 09:30 to 10:00 break, 10:00 to 13:00 counting, 13:00 to 14:00 return of the sheets, gap control and handover to the next group.

The calculation and the reserve

2,100 positions are counted per shift against a capacity of 2,400. Utilisation is 2,100 ÷ 2,400 = 87.5 per cent, the reserve 300 positions or 12.5 per cent. For the third count we assume that 3 per cent of the positions deviate: 4,200 × 0.03 = 126 positions. At 40 positions an hour that is a little over 3 team hours (126 ÷ 40 = 3.15), so about 45 minutes for four teams. The buffer on Sunday evening is therefore generous. The 3 per cent is purely an assumed value.

Prerequisites before the weekend

• Count instructions, zone plan and team list are approved, and the teams have been briefed on Thursday or Friday.
• The warehouse is tidied, blocked stock is kept apart and labels are stuck on.
• Movements from the cut-off time on either rest or are recorded separately, as the count instructions lay down.
• All sheets are printed, numbered and bundled by zone.
• Access, lighting, forklifts, food and drinks are organised; in summer the heat in the hall counts too.
• Replacements for absences are on standby, and there is a deputy for the count leader.

Typical bottlenecks

• A queue at the issue of sheets: a second issue point solves it.
• Zones that are not finished at handover: the reserve absorbs small delays, larger ones are made up in the buffer on Sunday evening.
• Too few count leaders for ten teams: allow for one supervisor per four to five teams.
• A team counts a zone it has already counted in the first count. The allocation in the plan prevents this.

In short

A weekend is enough if every shift has a task, a place and a handover. AuditMaster prepares the shift timetable together with you, supplies count teams, labels and materials, and carries out the year-end count zone by zone, with a second count and a record.