Discipline must be an essential component of our daily lives if we are to succeed professionnally and attain our goals.  This rule also applies to inventory management.

Concepts such as classification of parts, grouping of parts and the criticality of every part must be implemented in every company.  Unfortunately, these notions of inventory management are not yet installed in our management practices.

However, is Customer Service part of your priorities?

Is business productivity part of your management practices?

Do you buy and sell only when the cost price is at its lowest?

Do you want to increase your profits?

You wonder what these objectives might have in common with your priorities?

Let me share with you the experience of a production company that suffered from constant delays and bad service at the beginning of every fall session.  The staff could no longer suffice  due to the increased demand at this particular time of the year.  Their rolling stock was garage-bound because of broken parts.

It is normal for equipment to be in repair.  For it to remain there, no.  After taking note of the problem, the administration asked itself why there was always a shortage of parts in the repair shop. As a solution, they decided to increase their inventory to eliminate stock disruptions.  Although their stock levels gradually built up, the situation did not improve.  Worse, they had an accumulation of inventory surplus notwithstanding parts that had become obsolete. After various observations and analyses of their inventory, it was decided to proceed otherwise by classifying their parts into specific groupings.

We must all have a surplus of critical parts in inventory that are available at all times to ensure an adequate customer service.  This is the direction the company took.  Each part is now sorted into a   category that belongs to a specific group along with its level of criticality. Thus, the problem was resolved and all their rolling stock was on the road when required.  As a result, their level of service increased by more than 10%, complaints were significantly reduced and their customer service was built up.  Therefore, are you disciplined?