by Jon Schreibfeder | Aug 1, 2001 | Replenishment Parameters
Do the buyers in your company face a mountain of replenishment decisions every day? In the past several weeks I have worked with several firms that stocked more than 16,000 unique products in each of several warehouses. Their buyers seemed overwhelmed with the task of...
by Jon Schreibfeder | Jun 1, 2001 | Replenishment Parameters
It is important to know your cost of carrying inventory. It is a critical factor in deciding what products to stock and when to reorder them, as well as the best quantity to order. Too often companies and organizations use an imprecise “rule of thumb” to...
by Jon Schreibfeder | May 2, 2001 | Stocking Decisions
You want to stock the products that your customers request most often in your warehouse(s). But what about products with sporadic sales, or no sales at all? A recent article (not by this author) suggested that you should discontinue and liquidate the stock of any...
by Jon Schreibfeder | May 1, 2001 | Stocking Decisions
Purchased inventory is a “sunk” cost. You’ve paid for it. No matter what it’s worth now, your money’s still gone. Compare it to shares of stock you may purchase in a company. The securities have “paper” value, but no real monetary value until...
by Jon Schreibfeder | Mar 1, 2001 | Warehousing
If one of your warehouse employees walks past an item laying in the middle of a warehouse aisle, do they pick it up and put it in its proper location? Do they pretend not to see it? Do they feel they are too busy to deal with it? Do they kick it out of the way? The...
by Jon Schreibfeder | Jan 2, 2001 | Forecasting
Most computer systems provide a lot of information. Management and employees depend on the analysis provided by the computer software to make critical business decisions. But do you know how the numbers appearing on your reports and screens were generated? Before you...
by Jon Schreibfeder | Nov 10, 2000 | Analysis
What do you expect from a vendor? Most distributors, manufacturers, and retailers expect to receive the products they order: At the lowest possible price. On time. In salable or usable condition. Packaged to minimize the cost of preparing the item for sale or use. How...
by Jon Schreibfeder | Nov 1, 2000 | Analysis
We all have 24 hours in our day. Most of us spend somewhere between 8 and 12 of these hours at work. It is vital that we are as productive as possible with this time – that is, that we get the most benefit (i.e. corporate profit) out of each hour. In recent months,...
by Jon Schreibfeder | Jun 1, 2000 | Physical Inventory – Cycle Counting
I just spent two great days working with a large food distributor. The company has begun a program to achieve effective inventory management. As part of the program, they are cycle counting products (see Cycle Counting Can Eliminate Your Annual Physical Inventory!)...
by Jon Schreibfeder | Jan 2, 2000 | Purchasing
A few weeks ago a Canadian distributor emailed me with a very interesting situation: “The vendor of one of our seasonal product lines has an interesting program to encourage us to stock a lot of their products. At the end of the popular season, they give us a...
