by Jon Schreibfeder | Aug 1, 1999 | Forecasting
In 1987, Gordon Graham wrote a book, Distribution Inventory Management for the 1990s. In this book, Graham described what he considered to be the best method for forecasting the future demand for both seasonal and non-seasonal products. Let’s take a quick look...
by Jon Schreibfeder | Jul 1, 1999 | Replenishment Parameters
Theoretically, it should be easy to determine when to reorder a stocked item from a supplier. If you know that customers will order ten pieces of the product each day, and you know that it will take seven days to get the shipment from the vendor, you should reorder...
by Jon Schreibfeder | May 5, 1999 | Stocking Decisions
The Inventory Actuarial Table Most distributors carefully consider each new purchase of capital equipment. Every truck, desk, and computer purchased must have the potential for increasing profitability of the company. After all, money doesn’t grow on trees, and...
by Jon Schreibfeder | Feb 10, 1999 | Analysis
I’m going to begin this article with two assumptions which should be true for all manufacturers (who maintain stock inventory), distributors, and retailers: You stock material to meet your customers’ expectations of product availability. You are in...
by Jon Schreibfeder | Feb 9, 1999 | Analysis
A common measurement of the performance of your stocked inventory is the customer service level. It measures how often you have the items you’ve committed to stock when your customers want them. The customer service level is calculated with this formula: # of...
by Jon Schreibfeder | Feb 8, 1999 | General
Doing one thing well often leads to doing other things well. This is true in many areas of business, including inventory management. Have you ever noticed that successful manufacturers and distributors have clean, organized warehouses? And companies in a perpetual...
by Jon Schreibfeder | Feb 7, 1999 | Warehousing
Most distributors realize the importance of inventory accuracy – that is, having the available quantity of an item in your computer agree with what is actually on the shelf in your warehouse. Management realizes the bad things that happen when inventory accuracy...
by Jon Schreibfeder | Feb 6, 1999 | Physical Inventory – Cycle Counting
No one who is of sound mind enjoys taking a physical inventory. In fact, many people prefer a visit to the dentist to spending a weekend counting every piece of every item in their warehouse. Even worse than a physical inventory is a physical inventory which results...
by Jon Schreibfeder | Feb 5, 1999 | Purchasing
Sometimes the cost of an item will be dependent on how much is purchased. For example, Foyt’s Racing Supplies offers the following discount schedule for the #AJ 3000 Brake Pads: Quantity Unit Cost Discount Net Unit Cost 100 10.00 5% 9.50 500 10.00 7.5%...
by Jon Schreibfeder | Feb 4, 1999 | Physical Inventory – Cycle Counting
A physical inventory is the process of manually counting all of the items in your warehouse(s). Most distributors conduct a physical inventory once a year. It is an expensive process that few employees enjoy. But, accurate balance information is necessary for both...
