A reliable picture of stock in the Milton Keynes warehouse comes from a stock report: a listing of pallets and units by item, with receipt date, location and packaging condition. Reports can be scheduled or ordered on demand, and extended with a physical count inside pallets and photographic documentation.
Why a Polish company loses sight of its own goods
Goods leave Poland counted to the unit, and then for several months they exist only as a row in a spreadsheet. Later releases are arranged by phone, some pallets get broken down during partial releases, an item or two gets damaged and set aside. After six months the spreadsheet in Poland and the rack in England are two different worlds. Not because anyone stole anything, but because nobody closed the account. A stock report is the tool that closes it on a chosen day.
What a stock report should contain
The minimum you can base a decision on is: pallet identifier, item code or description, number of units on the pallet, receipt date, storage location and status. Status matters more than it seems: a pallet available for release, a pallet held pending a decision and a damaged pallet are three separate lines that must not be added together. Add the report date, because stock without a date means nothing. If the goods are temperature controlled, we record the zone they stand in.
When a report is not enough and a physical count is needed
A report reproduces what the records captured. If you suspect the records have drifted, you need a physical count: counting pallets and, where required, opening them and counting the contents. We do this on instruction, within an agreed scope, and finish with a schedule of differences. Opening a pallet is irreversible in the sense that the goods must afterwards be restacked and secured again, so the instruction should state plainly whether we count pallets or the units inside them. What discrepancies mean at the unloading point is covered in shortage and overage at unloading.
Photographs as part of the report
We attach photographic documentation when the instruction asks for it. Photographs make sense in two situations: when packaging condition has to be judged without travelling to England, and when the report will later serve as material in a claim. In the second case it is worth agreeing upfront what must be visible: the whole pallet, the label, the damaged area in close-up. The rules for documenting damage, including the role of photographs, are set out in our article on the inspection report for the insurer.
What we do when the count differs from the records
A difference is a starting point, not a verdict. First we check the obvious causes: a pallet put away in another location, a partial release not recorded on the same day, a consignment held pending a decision and shown under a different status. Only after ruling those out do we report the difference to the goods owner together with documentation. We do not correct the records on our own, because a correction without the owner consent turns a warehouse problem into an accounting problem on their side. If the difference concerns damaged goods, the route described in damaged goods in the warehouse applies.
How often to order a report
There is no single correct frequency, but there is a simple rule: the report should come before the decision. Before ordering production, before planning a season of shipments, before promising availability to a customer, before closing the financial year. Companies with fast turnover usually want it monthly, companies holding seasonal stock find twice a year sufficient. If the goods sit for a long time, it is worth linking the report to the question of storage horizon, which we develop in how long goods can stay in storage.
What a stock report does not replace
The report shows inventory, but it does not run your stock accounting and does not replace your own system. We do not offer an online view or a system integration, because we do not want to promise a tool that does not exist. What the report does give you is a document you can paste into your own spreadsheet, hand to your accountant or attach to correspondence with an insurer. For most companies using the warehouse as a UK buffer that is enough, provided it is ordered regularly rather than only once something fails to add up.
Need a listing of your stock in England or a physical count? Write through the quote form and state the scope the report should cover. The service scope is on the Milton Keynes warehouse page, and the receipt procedure in pallet receipt and release.
