Annual Vs Continuous Inventory Methods

Explain the difference between annual and continuous inventory methods in WM. 

Why do we need two different methods of inventory (annual and physical)? 

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The business side of it: 

Annual inventory is supposed to be done only once a year at the year end and supposed to cover all the inventory in the warehouse. With continuous inventory we can count different parts of the warehouse as many times as we want. 
 

The technical side of it:

However, technically speaking, there are not much difference between annual and continuous programs LX15 and LX16. Both programs allow selecting particular storage bins create physical inventory number and enter the actually counted values.  Using annual inventory - LX15 you can also count small parts of the warehouse many times during the year. 
 

Main Differences

The main difference is that in Continuous inventory you have control over inventoring the bins as often as you want and the system will allow you, in annual inventory the system places a restriction in that you can only do the inventory once a year, if you try to do it again say a month later the system will not allow it. We always by default setup up continous for our clients even when the customer uses Annual as it gives us more flexibility in case a special inventory needs to be taken etc. 
 

Notes:

We for one do not do physical inventories annually because we have shown that our cycle count (continuous inventory) process is accurate. 

In WMS we do a complete continuous inventory in 6 month cycle or twice a year. 

Not only are we much better off operationally with accurate inventory (99%+), but we also avoid the high cost (dollars and accuracy) of the annual physical. 

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