Category Archive

What is happening? The business media has recently noted changes to the outsourcing approach in two industries. The mining industry in Australia is changing its business model so that operations in the mines are undertaken by mine companies employees, rather than mining services companies. In the global courier, express parcel (CEP) industry, the major companies have been enlarging their fleet … Read More

A repeat performance. When things go wrong with your inventory, there can be some big numbers and, at the very least, it will  be supply chain, logistics and inventory managers who are looking for new jobs! Six weeks ago I discussed the likely ‘ripple’ effect from a retailer ‘discovering’ about $100m of excess inventory. This week there is another story. … Read More

Criticality and risk of a service part. Managing your inventory requires an understanding of its behaviour so that sufficient is on-hand to provide availability for customers. This series of blogs has looked at categorising finished goods SKUs using the Coefficient of Variation Management (CoVM) approach, developed by Tom Rafferty, so that effective management can be achieved. A similar approach can … Read More

Describe your inventory investment.   ‘Better’ planning for your business starts with sales and operations plan (S&OP). However, for the plan to really make a difference, operations must be structured to enable response to demand in an acceptable time period. Responding to demand means providing availability of items. This requires either making or assembling the items as required, or delivering … Read More

Know your inventory. What is critical for logisticians? One issue is how to format finished goods SKUs into a meaningful structure. This will help you to understand inventory and therefore manage it in a more professional way. This blog is Part 3 of a discussion about managing your inventory. Previously, I introduced the coefficient of variation management  (CoVM) model, developed … Read More