Keeping track of small automotive parts inventory is no small task. Using a counting scale is one way to ensure the process runs more smoothly, but many counting scales are not capable of providing a high level of accuracy needed in certain situations.
When using counting scales, inaccuracies can occur and most often happen when determining the weight of the sample piece or pieces. An inaccurate sample weight can cause your inventory counts to be off significantly.
Valve caps, screws, and caps, bolts, fasteners, battery terminals, washers…the list goes on and on. While most people think of large parts like engines or radiators when they think of automotive parts, there are a lot of smaller parts that are just as crucial to have in stock. However, keeping an inventory of these smaller parts can be more time consuming than larger ones.
Manage Your Inventory with Counting Scales
When you want to keep your inventory of small automotive parts accurate without the hassle and unreliability of hand counting or guesstimating, a counting scale inventory system can make the process go much more smoothly and give you real-time accuracy.
A parts counting scale will convert the weight of a batch of parts into the number of pieces in that batch. This is accomplished by weighing a small sample of parts, calculating the weight of an individual piece, and then dividing the weight of the full batch by the calculated piece weight. And while it sounds like a pretty simple task, a lot of scale manufacturers get it wrong.
Without a high degree of accuracy, parts counting scales would not be able to deliver the correct number of individual mailers or parts. SAW technology allows for far greater accuracy than other scales on the market. This a crucial component of parts counting. Small inaccuracies will multiply over time if your scale is not sensitive and accurate enough.
You need a scale that is durable enough to weigh possibly hundreds of pounds at a time, and high resolution enough to know the difference between one envelope or two of them. That’s what SAW technology lets Arlyn accomplish for you. These scales are available in a range of different capacities.
Special Considerations
Our counting scales’ high precision, surface acoustic wave (SAW) technology, and advanced digital algorithms give you a quick and easy system that allows you to easily calculate the weight of a sample batch. The average industrial scale may not be sensitive enough for such small parts. If the sample batch isn’t weighed accurately, it can affect the accuracy of your entire inventory.
As an example, let’s say you have a standard 100 lb. capacity scale with a resolution of 0.02 lb. If your sample weight is 0.09671 lb. and your sample size is 10 pieces, the result is 0.9671 lb. However, your scale can only read to its best resolution, which is 0.96 lb. That’s an error of 2.5%, which is pretty significant.
Now if you chose a SAW-C scale from Arlyn, you’d have the same 100 lb. capacity but your resolution would be much finer at 0.001 lb. Using the same sample weight (0.9671 lb.) and sample size (10 pieces), the scale will read .967 lb. Not only does our ultra precision scale make the reading more accurate, but it also reduces the margin of error to .03%, which is much more reliable.
There are two simple and reliable ways to calculate sample weights:
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Quick Count Feature
Our counting scales come equipped with a Quick Count feature that turns parts counting into a one-step process with no confusing menu functions. Our intuitive interface and large internal memory means you can complete the sample weighing process once, store the piece weight of hundreds of items, and completely bypass the sampling process in the future.
Simply choose your sample size—either 10, 25, 50 or 100 pieces—from the digital indicator and place that number of items on the platform. The scale will create the sample and automatically switch to counting mode where you can continue to count the same part.
Just keep in mind that the more pieces you use in the sample, the more accurate your sample (and entire inventory count) will be. This is especially important if the individual weight of identical parts tends to differ. The more parts you use in the sample, the better your scale will be able to account for these slight differences.
This feature has the advantage of being extremely fast when you need an immediate count. The only downside is that you won’t be able to save the part data and sample weight in the scale’s memory. If you need to count this part again in the future, you’ll have to go through the sampling process again.
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Sample Definition
The sampling process can be a bit time consuming since you have to hand-count the pieces included in the sample. To bypass this process in the future, you’ll want to name and save the sample weight according to the part through the PARTS COUNTING menu on the digital indicator.
Through this menu, you can:
- Add a new sample. Navigate to NEW on the menu and press enter. The default sample name will be a 4-digit number determined by the number of samples already in the scale’s memory.
- Edit a sample. Edit the description and/or weight value of a sample. Weight values can be entered manually by the operator or automatically using the scale platform.
- Delete a sample. If you’ll no longer stock a part or feel you made an error, removing the entry is simple.
- Activate a sample. Use this feature when a sample weight has already been stored for the part you’re counting. Simply choose the sample you want, click the ACTV function, press enter and place the parts on the platform.
The Accumulate Function
If you have identical parts in different containers or their total weight exceeds your scale’s capacity, this function will allow you to keep a running count that can be completed in one sitting.
Simply choose the sample weight you want to use and press the ACCUM key. The scale will then aggregate the weight of each batch until you press and hold the ACCUM key, which will exit the accumulate function and give you the total number of pieces.
The Arlyn Scales’ Difference
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Connectivity Ports
Inventory data is meant to be shared. We can equip your scale with nearly any communication port. Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Cloud, USB, flash drive, and other analog ports are available so that you can move your data to external computer systems or even to the web.
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Custom Inventory Solutions
If you have hundreds or thousands of different kinds of parts you keep in stock, you may want to consider going with one of our custom inventory solutions. For example, you can implement a system where multiple bins are placed on a shelf and equipped with counting scales that will determine the number of parts in your inventory.
When connected to a Wi-Fi connection, you can communicate your inventory data directly to an easily accessible website. An alert system can be configured to send automatic email messages when the stock of a particular product is running low. Inventories from warehouses around the world can be monitored anywhere there’s internet access in one convenient place.
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Factory Direct Pricing and Service
Arlyn Scales is a factory-direct company, which means you get all the benefits of working directly with the factory when you work with us. These include extremely competitive pricing on high-quality products and customer service that understands your needs and can offer you a real solution.
So whether you’re interested in one scale or an entire system for your car manufacturing plant, contact us today and learn how we can help you keep your inventory accurate and up-to-date!
