For manufacturing and line side stock
The cost of manufacturing stock errors is downtime, not the count.
At one manufacturing site, every minute of production downtime costs €7,000. That single, confirmed figure is why the site needed 99%+ accuracy on component stock. It reached break even in one month, and production stops from stock errors were eliminated.
Why manufacturing arithmetic is different
Seven minutes of downtime pays for a year of counting.
In most warehouses the case for automated stocktaking is built from stocktaking cost and lost pallet search. On a production site it does not need to be, because the exposure sits on the line rather than in the count.
- The line waits while somebody looks for the part. When the system says a component is in a location and it is not, a picker starts a search. The search is the visible labour cost. The stopped line behind it is the real one.
- A hand scanner count cannot keep pace. High value, high tempo manufacturing moves stock faster than a periodic manual count can describe it. By the time a count is reconciled, the floor has already changed.
- Location matters as much as quantity. Knowing there are twelve of a component somewhere in the building does not relieve stock to a line. The picker needs the exact position, confirmed.
- A 20 minute run keeps up with the plant's own tempo. Counting 500 to 1,000 pallets in a 20 minute pass means a mismatch is found before the line asks for the part, not after.
Measured on the factory floor
Two manufacturing sites, both live.
| Location | Pallet locations | Accuracy after go live | Sector | Value realised | Break even |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cuxhaven, Germany | 5,000 | 99%+ | Manufacturing | 95% fewer stock errors, production stops eliminated at €7,000 loss per minute | 1 month |
| Łódź, Poland | 15,000 | 99.99% | Manufacturing, retail and fashion | 90% lower stocktaking cost, 90% fewer loading errors | 3 months |
Cuxhaven, at only 5,000 pallet locations, is one of the two fastest break evens across all ten sites measured, despite being one of the smallest. Small warehouse, expensive line. See all ten deployments and the method behind the numbers.
What this actually looks like line side
Component stock has less room for error than a distribution pallet.
Every location checked, empty ones included
Location level recognition confirms which racking positions hold stock and which are empty, so a component genuinely out of stock is flagged rather than assumed present.
Counted during a normal shift
A 20 minute run driven during a break covers 500 to 1,000 pallets, frequent enough to matter on a plant that cannot be paused for a stocktake.
Evidence behind every discrepancy
A missing component is flagged for a targeted search, with the recording that found the gap attached, rather than a full recount.
Deployment and capital
Counting on day five, with nothing on the balance sheet.
Sentispec Inventory rides on a forklift the plant already owns and operates. It is live in five days including driver training, and there is no robot to buy, so nothing has to be capitalised, no capex approval cycle and no fleet of vehicles commissioned into one specific building.
A driver and a forklift are needed for every run, where an autonomous robot counts without one. On a site where every minute is worth €7,000, deployment speed and the absence of a capex cycle are usually what decide it. The sequence is set out on the five day deployment page, and the comparison against autonomous scanning robots is on the Dexory alternative page.
Questions we get asked
Before you put a number in front of operations.
Is the €7,000 a minute figure a general estimate?
No. It is the measured cost of production downtime at one manufacturing site, and it is confirmed and publishable as a real figure, not a modelled average. It is what stock inaccuracy costs when the stock feeds a production line rather than sitting in a distribution warehouse.
Can it tell the difference between a genuinely empty bin and a miscount?
Yes. Location level recognition registers empty positions as a distinct, confirmed state, not as an absence of data, so an empty bin where a component is expected is reported as one of the four discrepancy types rather than left ambiguous.
How does this compare to an autonomous scanning robot?
An autonomous robot counts without a driver, which is a genuine advantage where labour is scarce. It also has to be bought or subscribed to, housed, charged and commissioned into your specific building. Sentispec Inventory rides on a forklift you already run and drive, and is live in five days. The full comparison is on the Dexory alternative page.
Our component stock lives in an MES, not a WMS. Does that work?
Yes. Sentispec can interface to an MES or a WMS, so the reconciliation runs against whichever system holds the record of truth for your components. It does not replace either one: it counts what is physically in the racking, compares that with the record, and reports the four discrepancy types for your team to act on. Say which system it is on the first call and the interface is set up during the five day deployment along with everything else.
Next step
Put a number on what a stopped line costs your plant.
A 30 minute demo using recordings from a production site, plus the accuracy and downtime arithmetic for your own line.