Stocktaking?

[chippy66]

Is there any easier ways to do stocktaking, our current process is doing pepetual inventory ( stock checking throughout the year) which we count parts daily, transact thoughout the day. This way is a lot more accurate than a yearly stocktake. However the transacting part can be very time consuming.
I have been told about hand held machines but my worry is that these will not show me discrepancies. Help please.

[EverClean]

In my experience HandHeld Terminals (HHT's) are VERY expensive and they don't take a lot of work out of the process. Things still have to be counted by hand but the results input on the HHT and then transmitted to a PC. I think that perpetual inventory is the best way to control exactly what's going on.

[buildersmate]

I agree, Eveclean and it is amazing how many organisations still believe that IT systems will always make life easier - in many cases it won't.
Perpetual inventory review is the best way to do this. The alternative of a traditional stockcheck not only results in the whole business stopping for a period of time whilst stuff can't move to allow it to be counted in only one place, but it means you go many months without checking anything.
The bit that appears to be missing from your organisation is the feedback loop from Quality Assurance. What should be happening is that the results from perpetual inventory checks, if good, result in a lowering of the number of checks done (and vice versa). It is all about gaining confidence in the control and accuracy of the stock numbers. There's no point continuing to count stuff if it is rarely incorrect. That's what World Class organisations do.