DYNAMIC SLOTTING WITH “EXPECTED TIME TO PICK Don’t Zone Your Warehouse, ETP it By Terry Harris, Managing Partner, Chicago Consulting Zone Approach Traditional slotting techniques use a Zone structure. The warehouse is divided into a group of Zones, typically a handful of them. Then each position in a particular Zone is viewed the same as…
The Stock Status (Stock or No-stock) decision and the Safety Stock decision you make have profound impact on how your inventory performs–the Fill it provides and the Capital it requires. In the vast majority of inventory systems the Stock Status decision of each item is made first and the Safety Stock decision second. Additionally these decisions are almost always made on different bases, with different criteria..
There is a need for Negative Safety Stocks in a Reorder Point inventory system. In such systems it is usual to have some items designated as “Stock” items and others designated as “Non-stock.” The former are planned to always have some On-hand – a replenishment is received just when the On-hand is planned to reach its Safety Stock. The latter is planned to never have any On-hand – it’s not replenished, it’s ordered when a customer orders it..
1These are tough times. We don’t know how much worse they’ll get or how long they’ll last. Predicting the bottom is tricky. Still there are ways supply chain executives at manufacturers, distributors and retailers can survive and a few ways to thrive in this downturn. Here are 10 steps to help you tough-it-out.
1. Re-Design Your Warehouse Network, Add Regional Warehouses and Save Transportation Costs.
Your transportation costs are very dependent on your warehouse network-how many you have and where they are located. You can..
Optimal Cartons “Green-Up” Our Supply Chains—And Our Profit-and-Loss Statements By Terry Harris, Managing Partner, Chicago Consulting Long unrecognized, we logisticians and supply chain management professionals, are environmentally-responsible, and naturally so. We strive to use fuel-efficient transportation methods—economical ocean container ships, stack-trains that minimize fuel per pound-mile. We use truckload (TL) over less-than-truckload (LTL) whenever practicable,…
Chicago, IL January 2008: Chicago Consulting announces it has developed new technology that creates “Lean Green” supply chains—ones that are both environmentally responsible and operate with less expense. “The typical thinking is that ‘green’ supply chains require additional expense to operate,” said Terry Harris, Managing Partner of Chicago Consulting, “however, this is just not realistic.”
Harris went on to say that “Supply..
CARTON REGIMES AND OPTIMAL CARTONS IN PICK-AND-PACK OPERATIONS By Terry Harris, Managing Partner, Chicago Consulting The cartons shippers employ have a substantial impact on costs in their supply chains. Cartons impact transportation, corrugated material and void fill costs. These costs are particularly sensitive to carton design for Pick-and-Pack operations where orders and items are assigned…
Much more than merely applying statistical techniques, forecasting impacts most facets of a business and should draw on more resources than it typically does. In the following we highlight ten “forecasting fallacies” we’ve run across in 20 years of watching companies struggle with forecasts and its most important follow-on activity, stocking strategy. Done well, forecasting contributes to supply chain performance, customer..
Inventory-Based Service Strategy
Service-based strategies are demonstrably effective – see virtually every past HBR issue in the last ten years.
Inventory service dominates service. Having what customers want to buy available to them, is normally the their first issue. Frequently it’s the largest portion of the whole service picture. (What do other services matter if the product is not available? It might as well be free!) Suppliers..
Most warehouse networks have built-in barriers. Overcoming these creates needless costs and diminishes the service networks provide their customers. The following lists five obstacles that distribution executives can gauge against their own warehouse networks. How well does your network work?
Inventory Isolation Adds Cost
The very idea of a warehouse..