Inventory Health
Scorecard.
A practical scorecard for the accuracy, location discipline, and exception-control gaps that quietly drain warehouse capacity. Score the current state, not the version you intend to build later. Twenty-five questions across five sections — total possible 50.
Score each item 0, 1, or 2. 0 = not in place or mostly manual. 1 = partial, depends on the person or shift. 2 = in place, owned, used consistently. Use it before a launch call, during a Gemba walk, or as a quarterly health check.
System Accuracy
Can the system be trusted before the floor starts working around it?
- 01On-hand inventory is accurate enough that supervisors rarely need side lists or tribal knowledge.
- 02Location accuracy is measured routinely and reviewed by area, product family, or velocity class.
- 03Inventory statuses are clear: available, held, damaged, pending QC, staged, or otherwise restricted.
- 04Unit of measure and packaging differences are visible before they create pick or replenishment errors.
- 05The team can identify the highest-risk SKUs or locations without manually digging through reports.
Location Discipline
Are locations controlled enough to protect pick speed and put-away flow?
- 01Forward, reserve, staging, hold, and damage locations are visibly defined and used as intended.
- 02Empty, blocked, mixed, unsafe, and overfilled locations are flagged quickly enough to act on them.
- 03High-velocity SKUs are placed where the operation can actually use them efficiently.
- 04Overflow and temporary locations have aging visibility, owners, and cleanup standards.
- 05The operation can spot a bad put-away before it turns into a pick miss, search, or rework pallet.
Exception Ownership
When inventory breaks flow, does someone own the next action?
- 01Shorts, overages, damages, mislabels, holds, and unsafe locations have a clear owner and status.
- 02Aging exceptions are visible by bucket, not hidden in a spreadsheet or inbox.
- 03The team knows who decides whether product is released, moved, counted, corrected, or escalated.
- 04Inventory issues from receiving, put-away, replenishment, picking, and shipping feed one control process.
- 05Cross-shift handoffs include open inventory risks and next actions, not just completed counts.
Flow Protection
Is inventory control protecting throughput while the work is happening?
- 01Cycle counts and location checks are aimed at the areas most likely to stop flow.
- 02Replenishment risk is visible before pickers run out of usable forward stock.
- 03Inventory exceptions are connected to the operating impact: blocked pick, delayed load, rework, or lost time.
- 04Leaders can see where inventory health is constraining inbound, outbound, or both.
- 05The team can distinguish normal inventory work from urgent flow-protection work.
Learning Loop
Does the operation prevent repeat inventory problems?
- 01Inventory defects are trended by cause, area, SKU family, shift, or process step.
- 02Root causes are verified at the Gemba before fixes are chosen.
- 03Recurring issues become standard work, visual management, training, or system-rule changes.
- 04The operation reviews inventory health on a weekly or monthly cadence with owners and due dates.
- 05Improvements are measured against a baseline score so progress can be proven later.
Inventory conditions are likely creating delays, rework, search time, and avoidable interruptions. The floor is absorbing the gaps.
Want help turning this score into a plan? Share your lowest scoring section on a launch call — we'll point at the first accuracy, location, or exception-ownership gap to close, then re-score later to prove the change.