In this guide 6 sections
Slab stock drifts because the books hold one running total per item, while the yard holds individual slabs. Each slab is cut, moved between yards or sold off a truck, and each change reaches the books late or never. A register with one line per tagged slab closes the gap.
Why a single total hides the real slabs
In Kishangarh, one block of Makrana white becomes dozens of slabs. Each has its own length, width, thickness, grade, shade and rate. The books usually hold one item with a running total in square feet, and that single figure is what the accountant sees at every month end.
That total looks tidy until you ask which slabs sit inside it. A cracked slab, a slab with a rust vein and a clean export grade slab all share one name. Sell the best two and the total barely moves.
So the drift is not an arithmetic slip. It is lost detail, slab by slab.
Where slabs leave the books without a record
Cutting is the largest gap. A kitchen counter order turns one slab into a top, two strips and a wastage piece, and the offcut goes to the scrap heap. Someone adjusts the total at month end, if anyone does.
Movement between yards comes next. Slabs travel from the polishing yard at Kishangarh to a showroom at Udaipur on a truck, and the gate pass carries a count rather than tag numbers. The receiving yard counts again and often reaches a different figure.
Truck sales are the worst. A buyer arrives, picks six slabs from a stack, and the loader scribbles a quantity on a slip. The invoice follows days later.
- Cutting orders that never post the offcut
- Transfers between yards on count-only gate passes
- Sales from a loaded truck booked days later
- Slabs reserved for a buyer but still shown as free
- Breakage during loading that nobody writes off
What a slab level register records
Keep one row per slab, never per lot. Paint or sticker a tag number on the slab edge and quote that number on every slip, gate pass and invoice.
The row holds the block number, thickness, length, width, grade, shade, polish status and yard bay. It also carries the cost brought forward from the block and the quoted rate, so margin shows slab by slab rather than only in the quarterly accounts.
Status changes are the part that matters. Keep them short. Keep them strict.
- Tag number, block number and quarry or supplier
- Size, thickness, grade, shade and polish status
- Yard and bay, with a date against every move
- Status: free, reserved, in cutting, in transit or sold
- Linked invoice, gate pass or cutting order number
Reconcile the register with Tally on a fixed day
Tally stays the home for vouchers, ledgers and returns. Let the slab register hand it totals by item and grade, instead of typing one sale into two places.
Once a week, total the register by item and compare it with the Tally stock summary. A gap now points to a named slab or a named movement, so you correct one record rather than hunting through the whole yard.
Walk the stacks on the same day with a printed list. Mark each slab found, missing or in the wrong bay.
Start with one yard and one week of tags
Pick the yard with the heaviest traffic. Tag every slab already standing there and enter the rows from a printed sheet, not from memory.
From that day, no slab leaves without its tag number on the slip. Refuse the loader’s shortcut of writing a count. After a week, compare the register with the stacks, see which movement leaks most and fix that one first.
Slab register and weekly reconciliation sheet
This single sheet has two halves. The top half is the register, with columns for tag number, block number, length, width, thickness, grade, shade, polish status, yard and bay, status and linked document. The lower half is the weekly reconciliation, with a row for each item and grade showing register total, Tally total, difference and the slab tags that explain it.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Do I need to tag every slab in the yard?
Tag every slab that is sold singly or priced by grade. Small broken pieces and tile lots can stay as a counted lot. Tagging the valuable slabs first covers most of the money.
Can Tally hold stock slab by slab?
Tally can track batches, but one row per slab with a changing status and bay is awkward in a voucher system. A separate register feeding Tally with summaries is easier to keep correct.
How should offcuts be recorded?
Close the original slab as cut, then add new rows for the pieces worth selling, each with its own tag. Scrap that is not sold can be logged as a single wastage line against the cutting order.
Who should own the register?
One yard supervisor per yard, with the owner reviewing the weekly difference. Shared ownership usually means nobody updates it after the truck leaves.