Whether you have an automated or a manual system, your people need a vehicle to identify problems and notify the appropriate personnel. A stock check form (figure 2) does just that. It must have certain things on it, such as the order number, picker's name, date, product code, quantity, reason for completing the "stock check" form, etc.

If an item is backordered by a warehouse person, it should be accompanied with a stock check form, which will eliminate the vicious cycle of the backorder fillable report as well. That's when the picker backorders an item, then the purchasing department fills the backorder because the system says its in stock, and another picker backorders it again, causing the buyer not only to fill the order again, but to include a note asking the picker to find the product, all the while muttering obscenities about the warehouse. A new, untrained picker backorders the item again, because no one ever explained what those notes on the pick ticket meant. Now the buyer is livid so he or she goes to get the piece, which he or she can't find, and eventually has to order.

Whether you have an automated or a manual system, your people need a vehicle to identify problems and notify the appropriate personnel. A stock check form (figure 2) does just that. It must have certain things on it, such as the order number, picker's name, date, product code, quantity, reason for completing the "stock check" form, etc.

If an item is backordered by a warehouse person, it should be accompanied with a stock check form, which will eliminate the vicious cycle of the backorder fillable report as well. That's when the picker backorders an item, then the purchasing department fills the backorder because the system says its in stock, and another picker backorders it again, causing the buyer not only to fill the order again, but to include a note asking the picker to find the product, all the while muttering obscenities about the warehouse. A new, untrained picker backorders the item again, because no one ever explained what those notes on the pick ticket meant. Now the buyer is livid so he or she goes to get the piece, which he or she can't find, and eventually has to order.