Common sense rules. We may not like them, but generally, they stand the test of time and should be followed. Here are 8 common sense rules related to inventory management published by Inbound Logistics back in 2007. They still hold true today. 

1. If you don' t know where you are going, no road will take you there. Enterprise resource management systems are designed to tell you about today' s inventory. With some work, you can also access information about past inventory. To manage inventory proactively, however, you must know projected inventory levels for the future.

2. Make what you can sell. An integrated Sales and Operations Plan will naturally take into account expected demand in its production plan. Inventory is not an independent variable - it is the direct result of demand and supply.

3. Sell what you can make. Too often, a disconnect exists between sales and marketing desires and the reality of production capabilities.

4. If you can' t sell it, stop making it. If demand for your product does not materialize, you need to identify that gap quickly to avoid a buildup of non-moving inventory. Numerous mechanisms can be put in place to identify such trends.

For tips 5 through 8 and more details into the other tips, click the button below to read the full article.

When fixing a downtime issue, make one change at a time.

Often, multiple changes are made at the same time, without individually checking their impact on the equipment. This makes it much harder to diagnose problems and evaluate the effectiveness of solutions.

It is essential to capture a reason and duration for each downtime incident to enable the team to effectively prioritize and focus.

Start simple, and make sure every reason is clear (when compared with other reasons) and describes symptoms (as opposed to attempting to diagnose root causes). Remove reasons that aren’t regularly used and add reasons.

Two big sources of inefficiencies in manufacturing are paper and spreadsheets. I know that you love ‘em, but they are the cause of more problems than you probably realize. Think of how long it takes you to get paper-based data into the hands of those who can do something valuable with the data.
 

• Is the information captured correctly?
• Can everyone access the information?
• Is this an accurate representation of what’s going on across all operations?

Make your shop floor paperless and put systems in place that talk to one another and automatically pull and push data to and from your ERP so that you can look in one place for all the information you need to run your business effectively.

I realize it was just Mother’s Day, but I don’t mean your mother.

I mean... MOM- Manufacturing Operations Management, a suite of manufacturing applications designed to improve efficiencies, without the investment in a costly system.

MOM provides manufacturers with the ability to extend their ERP system by offering specific applications that will streamline their operations at an affordable price.

MOM Suite of Manufacturing Applications:

• Manufacturing Execution System (MES)
• Time & Attendance
• Labor Reporting
• Data Collection
• Dashboards
• Scheduling
• Shipping & Receiving
• Supplier Barcoding

So, I ask again… how’s your MOM? Contact Crossroads RMC to learn more.

If the item being received needs to be inspected prior to being available for use, there are two schools of thought.

The first is to receive the item to a QC hold location. The downside is the item will show up in on hand inventory.

A better method would be to do a PO receipt to inspection. Both Inv500 and Pur550 support this method. Now you have received the item without showing it in inventory. Only the PO quantity in inspection is updated. This method also allows you to create an Inspection Dispatch Report. After the QC process for the item is complete, then the transaction Receipt from Inspection to Stock is processed. That transaction then updates the PO quantity received field and the Item on hand field in inventory.

Earlier this year I wrote a blog about motivating employees to do more… to be more. Doing this helps your business grow. Here is a link to my article> https://www.crossroadsrmc.com/Resources/Infor-ERP-Tips-News/its-not-all-about-the-money-money-money-motivating-employees-in-the-new-year-2

And I would like to share a link to a recent article from Industry Week giving a different take on the same idea.

https://www.industryweek.com/recruiting-retention/grow-employees-grow-your-business