FAQ
Sixteen questions about automated stocktaking.
They cover the count itself, the IT work, the contract and the things Sentispec Inventory will not do. The five that come up first in a first call are linked straight to their answers.
How it works
The count itself.
How accurate is automated stocktaking?
Sentispec Inventory holds 99%+ stock accuracy after go live, with individual sites reaching up to 99.99%. We measure accuracy against a controlled count taken at go live and monitor it through ongoing counts afterwards, and every discrepancy carries the recording that produced it. The full method is on how accuracy is measured.
Do we have to stop the warehouse to run a count?
No, counting happens while the warehouse keeps operating. A 20 minute run covers 500 to 1,000 pallets and is normally driven during a break or between tasks, so a full stocktake no longer means shutting anything down.
Do we need new racking or new labels?
No, the unit reads the labels and navigates the racking you already have. Nothing is fitted to your vehicles and nothing changes in your racking, and no additional labels or specialist equipment are required.
How long does a full stocktake take?
A full stocktake takes one person eight to twelve hours, against three to ten people over two to three days by hand. That is up to 3,000 units counted per hour against 50 to 100 by hand scanner, roughly 30 times faster.
How narrow can our aisles be, and how high can the racking go?
Both are limited only by forklift accessibility. Wide aisle and narrow aisle are both supported, and racking height is set by what your forklift can lift rather than by the camera, because the unit is raised to each level in turn and reads one level at a time. If a forklift can get down the aisle and reach the level, the unit can record it. The full hardware specification is on the recording unit page.
Does it count cases inside a partial pallet?
No. Sentispec Inventory counts at pallet and location level, so a half emptied pallet reads as an occupied position rather than as a case count. If case level accuracy inside a broken pallet is the problem you are solving, this is the wrong tool. The other limits are listed together on what Sentispec Inventory does not do.
Does it work in a cold store?
Yes. The unit is rated to minus 20 °C and operates down to minus 30 °C for up to an hour at a time, and one pharmaceutical site scans its entire warehouse, including zones down to minus 23 degrees, in under four hours with one employee. It also removes the safety risk of staff using scissor lifts to reach high storage locations, which is where a manual count in cold storage usually costs the most. One thing to plan for: the unit must not be stored below freezing, so it lives and charges in a tempered area between runs. See cold chain and frozen.
Does this use barcodes or RFID?
It reads the barcode labels already on your pallets, not RFID tags. There is no tagging project to run first, no reader hardware to fit to your racking, and no pallet has to be re-labelled before a count can start, which is the structural difference from an RFID rollout.
What happens if a label is unreadable?
The position is reported as unread, not as empty and not as correct. It becomes a flagged line with the image attached, and the driver or an operator resolves it without recounting the whole aisle. A damaged barcode fails the same way it would for a handheld scanner.
IT, cost and contract
Before you speak to procurement.
How much IT work does this need?
None to get started, because integration effort is zero. It works out of the box on a stock file exchange, and a standard API is available if you want corrections to sync back automatically, which is a decision you can make months after go live rather than before it. See integrations.
Do we have to buy any hardware?
No, there is no hardware to buy. The recording unit is leased as part of the annual fee, which is all inclusive: support, maintenance, camera leasing and every software upgrade, so nothing has to be capitalised in the business case.
Where is our data stored?
On your own premises. All data and all processing are on premise, so retention and access are your decisions rather than ours, and we never share your data with third parties. Full detail on security and data.
What does it cost?
One warehouse costs €9,950 to set up and €39,550 a year. Five warehouses or more cost €8,950 setup and €37,450 per year, per site, published in full on pricing.
Is there a minimum contract term?
Twelve months, on both the Site and the Network tier. It auto renews for another 12 months unless you give three months notice, and we bill in euro or US dollars. The annual fee covers support, maintenance, camera leasing and software upgrades for the whole period, and the terms sit in full on pricing.
How does this work across multiple warehouses?
One recording unit can serve up to five warehouses in a cluster, moving between sites on a rota. At five warehouses or more the Network tier applies at €8,950 setup and €37,450 per year per site, and at ten or more across borders it becomes Enterprise, with custom terms and an agreed rollout schedule.
How it compares
Against the alternatives.
How is this different from an inventory drone or a warehouse robot?
Drones and autonomous ground robots are vehicles you buy or subscribe to, house, charge and work around, and they can count without a driver, which is a genuine advantage where labour is scarce or aisles are unmanned. Sentispec Inventory rides on a forklift you already own and drive, which needs a driver for the length of a run but trades that for five day deployment, no capital purchase and no facility change. The full comparison is on inventory drones and warehouse robots, and the ten sites we publish are on the benchmark page.
Is it safe to run alongside people working in the aisles?
Sentispec Inventory adds no new vehicle to your warehouse. The recording unit rides on a forklift that is already part of the traffic your site manages, driven by a trained operator under the rules you already have, so the safety case is the forklift safety case you already hold. A drone or an autonomous ground robot is a different proposition: it is a new vehicle in a space where people work, and it arrives with its own risk assessment and its own rules for meeting a pedestrian route. At one live pharma site Sentispec removed a hazard rather than adding one, ending the practice of raising employees on scissor lifts to read labels at height.
For anything not covered above, book a meeting or send it through contact.
The guides work through stocktake planning, count frequency and the causes of stock discrepancies in more depth. The glossary defines the terms.
Next step
Ask about your own racking and labels.
A 30 minute call, no deck, working through your racking, your label format and the questions specific to your site.