Innovative Planning, Superior Results.
Many people mistakenly think the Toyota way is about holding zero inventory. Finance directors in particular love to quote it in meetings. And in a way they are correct. In a perfect world we should not hold inventory. Inventory hides inefficiency. Inventory is comfortable for the planning department who don’t have to pay for it.…
Read more
Consignment stock is similar in many ways to safety stock. But unlike it is stock that is legally owned by one party (the supplier), but held by another party (maybe the customer, possibly someone in between like a hub or distribution centre). This means that the risk and most of the rewards for holding said…
Read more
This is concerned with the transportation and storage of raw materials and finished products. It should still fit into the strategic plan but I’m going to separate it out on its own because it is often overlooked at this stage in the big picture and only addressed in more short term planning when it is…
Read more
So what are the goals of supply chain management and planning. You want to deliver the right product Right Products: Having the product the customer wants. Depending on the industry and company that can change. For example what the customer wants this year may not be what they wanted last year. Producing last year’s smart…
Read more
Inventory is a buffer against uncertainty. A common image that I first came across when studying Goldratt’s Theory of constraints (which I highly recommend by the way), is that of a ship sailing on a lake. The ship represents the company and the water inventory. Below the water are rocks representing problems in the company. …
Read more
