Count bolts in a tray from a photo

Counting bolts, with or without a nut already fitted

Bolts are bigger than most fasteners, which makes them easy to see but harder to spread: a tray of long hex bolts tends to pile up at one end. Assembly teams count them before a production run, goods-in staff check a fastener order, and stores audit bins by size and grade. A marked photo is also a useful record when a delivery comes up short and you need to show the supplier what arrived.

Lay bolts parallel with the heads all pointing the same way, so shanks do not cross. If they arrive with a nut already threaded on, decide what one unit is before counting: mark the whole bolt-and-nut assembly as the example in Similar items so the nut is not treated as a separate item. Flanged and washer-faced heads look different from plain hex heads seen from above, so a mixed bin needs one example of each, up to three.

Grade markings stamped on the heads are too small to sort by in a photo, so keep grades in separate trays and label each tally row with grade and length. Review every marker before typing the confirmed figure into its row. Nuts from the same order and flat washers can be added as further rows, so one CSV covers the whole kit.

Before counting bolts

• Grades and lengths separated into their own trays
• Bolts laid head to head in rows, not in a heap
• A decision on whether a fitted nut is part of the unit
• Camera straight down with the whole tray in frame