Detecting a Gap in Raw Material Warehouse Security
The audit showed a 4% discrepancy in steel levels. After implementing our recommendations, losses dropped nearly to zero.
At the Stal-Pol Północ plant, steel was disappearing faster than production plans suggested. Our financial-operational audit showed that the problem lay in a lack of gate control and errors in waste accounting.
The challenge
The company was losing exactly 3.8% of raw material monthly. At current steel prices, this gave a real loss of nearly 14,200 PLN in every quarter. The owner suspected theft, but no one could point to exactly where the money was escaping. Chaos in warehouse documentation made reliable production accounting impossible.
Our approach
We entered the warehouse for 4 business days. We checked the last 117 deliveries and compared them with the weight of finished products sent to clients. We looked for holes in everything – from scale calibration on the floor to the way warehouse workers enter data into the system after 4 PM. Our team of 3 consultants reviewed every Excel sheet from the last 3 months.
The solution
We introduced a simple double-verification system for deliveries and a new document workflow for production waste. We eliminated manual re-entry of weights from paper to computer, which was the main source of errors. Numbers must add up, so we trained 5 people in the new procedures and tightened monitoring at the unloading ramp.
Results
Three months after implementing our recommendations, warehouse levels finally match the invoices. The company has regained full control over its margin and stopped overpaying for raw material it never used.
Timeline
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August 12, 2024On-site visit and purchasing documentation analysis
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August 19, 2024Physical inventory count and industrial scale testing
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August 28, 2024Delivery of a list of 7 critical fixes and procedure implementation
"We thought someone was taking goods out, but we just had a mess in the papers and on the scale. Baltic Synergia showed it to us in black and white in a few days. Now we know about every screw."