Inventory Control Specialist - Cycle Counter

Decko Products LLC; Sandusky (OH); On-site; USD 25,000 - 36,000; Full time

Job summary

Decko Products LLC in Sandusky, OH, is seeking an Inventory Control Specialist - Cycle Counter to establish and run our cycle counting program. You will count across both plants, investigate variances, and work with Warehouse Manager to resolve discrepancies.

This on-site role requires a detail-oriented mindset and strong integrity. As part of the Inventory Control team, you will support production planning and scheduling by ensuring accurate counts and documentation.

Qualifications

• Two+ years in warehouse, inventory or receiving with hands-on counting or control responsibility.
• Accurate with numbers and comfortable with units, case packs and conversions.
• Able to use an inventory/ERP system to look up items and record counts.
• Spreadsheet skills to list variances and patterns.
• Naturally curious and persistent about root causes of variances.
• High personal integrity for a control role and truthful reporting.
• Organized, self-directed and able to manage a daily schedule.
• Able to work with production, warehouse and office to chase discrepancies.
• Willing to flex hours, including early starts and weekends during physical inventory.
• High school diploma or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Execute daily cycle count schedule set by Warehouse Manager with ABC classification.
• Perform blind counts to ensure accuracy.
• Count by unit of measure (each, case, pallet, pound) and verify system expectations.
• Count across both plants and off-site storage locations.
• Recount and verify before reporting variance.
• Complete scheduled counts daily and maintain discipline in counting.
• Research variances to root cause and document evidence.
• Verify location integrity and lot/date codes during counts.
• Prepare for and assist physical inventories and project counts.
• Support reporting and improvement through documentation and coordination.

Skills

Two+ years in warehouse/inventory with

Accurate with numbers

ERP system experience

Spreadsheet knowledge

Curious and persistent

Personal integrity

Organized and self-directed

Collaborative with production/office

Willing to flex hours

High school diploma or equivalent

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Tools

ERP/WMS system

Barcode scanning

Powered industrial trucks

Job description

Inventory Control Specialist - Cycle Counter

About Decko Products LLC

Decko Products, LLC is a private label manufacturer based in Sandusky, Ohio, specializing in a variety of edible products for baking and decoration. We offer a wide range of products, including extruded royal icing decorations, butter cream icings, piping gel, and various fillings for cakes and desserts. We also provide special packaging services in the baking industry, ensuring high-quality standards and safety in our products. Decko Products operates an FDA-inspected facility, and our team is dedicated to meeting the demands of the food industry.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. Equal employment opportunities will be extended in all aspects of the employer-employee relationship, including, but not limited to, recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, transfer, demotion, compensation, benefits, layoff, and termination. In addition, Decko Products LLC will make reasonable accommodation to known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified applicant with a disability, unless the accommodation imposes an undue hardship on the operation of our business.

Cycle Counter

Miss Jones Baking Co. / Decko Sandusky, Ohio Full-time, hourly, non-exempt

Position

Cycle Counter (Inventory Control)

Reports to

Warehouse Manager

Location

Sandusky, Ohio (on-site) — main plant and 2200 plant, plus off-site storage

Department

Warehouse / Inventory Control

Scope

Daily cycle counting, variance research, location and record accuracy, lot and date verification, and support of physical inventory

Not in scope

Receiving, picking, shipping and inventory adjustment approval — the count is independent of the transactions it verifies

Operating pattern

Primarily first shift with early starts; counting windows around the production and shipping schedule, including weekends during physical inventory

Compensation

Competitive hourly rate; range confirmed with the final candidate

POSITION SUMMARY

We are creating a dedicated cycle counter position to establish and run inventory counting across our Sandusky operation. Today there is no cycle counting program at all. Inventory records and the floor do not agree, and nobody owns finding out why.

This is not a job about writing numbers on a clipboard. Counting is the easy part. The value in this role is what happens after a count does not match: tracing it back, working out whether it was a receipt, an issue, a mis-pick, an unrecorded scrap, a pallet in the wrong location or a labeling error, and telling us the truth about it. Someone who counts accurately but never asks why has done half the job.

The role reports to the Warehouse Manager and is deliberately kept separate from receiving, picking and shipping. A person who counts the material they also moved is not a control, and the whole point of this position is to be a control. The counter investigates and recommends; the Warehouse Manager approves every adjustment.

Everything downstream of inventory accuracy — production planning, purchasing, the MRP, product costing, and our ability to promise a customer a date — depends on this work being done honestly and consistently. It is one of the most important hourly roles in the building.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Execute the daily cycle count schedule set by the Warehouse Manager, working to the ABC classification — high-value and fast-moving items counted often, slow and low-value items counted less often.
• Perform blind counts: count what is physically there and record it, without the system quantity in front of you. A count made while looking at the expected number is not a count.
• Count accurately by unit of measure — each, case, pallet, pound — and know which one the system expects for the item in front of you.
• Count raw materials, packaging, work in process and finished goods across both plants, the outside storage locations and any staged or quarantined areas.
• Recount and verify before a variance is reported. Two counts that agree are a finding; one count is a first impression.
• Complete the scheduled counts for the day, every day. A count deferred quietly is a count that never happened.

Variance research — the core of the role

• Research every variance to root cause rather than reporting it and moving on. Work the trail: the receipt, the issue to production, the shipment, the scrap record, the transfer, the location history and the paperwork.
• Check the obvious physical causes first — material in an adjacent location, a mixed pallet, a second location for the same item, mislabeled stock, or a partial pallet not recorded.
• Distinguish between a counting error, a transaction error, a process gap and a genuine loss, and say plainly which one it was.
• Recommend the adjustment with the evidence behind it, and pass it to the Warehouse Manager for approval. Never adjust inventory to make a count agree with the system.
• Flag repeat offenders — the items, locations, shifts or process steps that generate variances again and again — so the process can be fixed rather than the number.
• Escalate immediately anything that looks like a food safety, traceability or security issue rather than handling it quietly.

Location and record integrity

• Verify that the item in the location matches the item the system says is there, not only that the quantity matches. A right count in the wrong location is still an error.
• Audit empty and zero-balance locations, and confirm that locations the system shows as empty actually are.
• Check that every pallet is labeled, legible and identifiable, and correct or report identification that has gone missing.
• Report slotting and storage problems found while counting — blocked locations, overflow stacked outside its location, damage and spillage.

Lot, date and hold verification

• Verify lot and date codes against the record while counting, so that traceability is tested continuously rather than only during a mock recall.
• Monitor aging and short-dated material, and report it early enough that it can be used or dispositioned rather than written off.
• Confirm FIFO and FEFO rotation is actually being followed on the floor, and report where it is not.
• Verify that held and quarantined material is still physically segregated, clearly identified and unmoved, and report any held material found where it should not be.

Physical inventory

• Prepare for and execute the full physical inventory: count sheets, tags, zones, cut-off discipline and recounts.
• Hold the freeze: no movement in an area being counted, and nothing shipped or received against a frozen zone without being recorded.
• Reconcile the physical inventory results with the Warehouse Manager and support the explanation given to Finance.

Food safety, safety and standards

• Work to GMP requirements at all times — garment policy, hygiene, no food or drink on the floor, and allergen awareness when moving between segregated areas.
• Follow safe practice around powered industrial trucks and moving equipment, and use the correct equipment when counting at height rather than climbing racking.
• Keep counting areas clean and leave every location the way it was found.
• Complete and maintain required training — GMP, allergen handling, powered industrial truck licensing where applicable, and system transactions.

Reporting and improvement

• Report daily on counts completed, accuracy against plan, variances found, and what the research showed.
• Maintain clear and legible count records that stand up to an auditor without further explanation.
• Bring improvement ideas forward — the counting process, count sheet design, location labeling, the count schedule, anything that makes the number more reliable.
• Take part in problem solving on repeat losses with the warehouse and production teams.

WHY THIS ROLE IS KEPT SEPARATE

The cycle counter is an inventory control, not an extra pair of hands in the warehouse. The separation is the point:

Activity

Cycle Counter

Warehouse Manager

Count schedule and ABC classification

Executes it

Sets it

Performing counts and recounts

Owns

Reviews

Variance research

Owns

Reviews the findings

Inventory adjustments

Recommends with evidence

Approves — always

Receiving and put-away

Not involved

Owns

Picking and shipping

Not involved

Provides stock to Shipping

Physical inventory

Executes and reconciles

Owns and signs off

If this role covers other warehouse duties on a given day — which can happen in an operation our size — the person does not count material they personally received, issued or moved that day. Someone else counts it.

HOW THIS ROLE IS MEASURED

Measure

Scheduled counts completed on plan, every week, with no quiet deferrals

Count accuracy

Recounts confirm the first count; counting errors by the counter are rare and trending down

Variance research

Every variance carries a documented cause, not just a number

Causes specific enough to act on — a named process step, not "miscount"

Inventory record accuracy

Contributes to sustained plant accuracy at or above 98% by location and item class

Repeat variance reduction

Items and locations flagged as repeat offenders are fewer quarter over quarter

Count records complete, legible and audit-ready without further explanation

Integrity

No adjustment made without approval; no count recorded that was not performed

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Two or more years in warehouse, inventory, receiving or materials work, with hands-on counting or inventory control responsibility.
• Accurate with numbers and comfortable with units of measure, case packs and conversions.
• Able to work in an inventory or ERP system: look up an item, read transaction history, and record a count.
• Working knowledge of a spreadsheet — enough to list variances, sort them and look for a pattern.
• Naturally curious and persistent. This role is looking for someone who is bothered by a number that does not make sense and wants to find out why.
• Personal integrity. This is a control position. The count has to be what was actually found, every time, including when the answer is inconvenient.
• Organized and self-directed — able to work a daily schedule without being chased.
• Able to work with production, warehouse and office people to chase down a discrepancy without turning it into a confrontation.
• Willing to flex hours to the business, including early starts, occasional off-shift counting and weekend work during physical inventory.
• High school diploma or equivalent.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Food manufacturing or food distribution experience — GMPs, lot codes, allergen segregation and date coding.
• Prior cycle counting experience, particularly in a program using ABC classification and blind counts.
• Powered industrial truck certification, including order picker or reach truck for counting at height.
• Experience through an ERP or WMS implementation, or with barcode scanning.
• Bilingual English/Spanish.

SCHEDULE AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Primarily first shift, with early starts so that counting happens before or around production and shipping activity rather than in the middle of it.
• Weekend and extended hours during physical inventory and peak periods.
• Regularly on the warehouse and production floor: standing and walking for extended periods, climbing stairs and platforms, counting at height from the correct equipment, and occasional lifting to 35 lbs.
• Exposure to food manufacturing and warehouse conditions — noise, moving equipment, powered industrial trucks, flour and sugar dust, dock temperatures and cold storage.
• Full GMP compliance including hairnets, beard nets, hearing protection, safety footwear and the plant garment policy.
• This is an on-site role. Remote or hybrid work is not available.