Monday, May 9, 2011

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As it is ... Electric Guitar Case

Friday, May 6, 2011

How Many Calories In Halal Food?

Dell. Video of the assembly and distribution facilities. So

The Dell case is always one of the case studies of almost all masters of supply chain, is a clear example of how logistics as having a quick, efficient and light (not just stocks) can gain market share and oust the "big" companies (IBM, HP ...). But, Did you see how it works inside Dell? With this video you will be a little clearer.



Monday, May 2, 2011

Hack Roms Pokemon Gba Avec Mac



Friday, April 29, 2011

How To Tell If Scorpio Guy Likes

a plane is a giant Cradle

The brain and the roots of Swedish giant are decorated town name: Älmhult. A bucolic town of 8,000 people where he was born founder and now develops the most creative part of the company. Discover why Ikea was born here and not elsewhere in the world.


By Maite Nieto

flood, when we crossed the Oresund bridge. While losing sight of the Danish coast and the sea is becoming the only horizon on both sides of this engineering work that has managed to unite Denmark and Sweden, to think of another giant that brought us to this point, it is inevitable. The Swedish giant Ikea is called: 318 stores in 41 countries, 23,100 million euros in annual sales, 127,000 employees referred to always as partners, more than 1,000 suppliers in 50 countries, 200 million copies of its catalog distributed the world, 626 million visitors and 712 million hits on its website each year.
To mark the 15 th anniversary of the store in Badalona (Barcelona), first opened in the Iberian peninsula, we have invited to identify its origin, the place where born Ingvar Kamprad, the founder, and which opened the first trade of the firm. Will we find in Älmhult, a small town of 8,000 inhabitants located in the province of Småland, a clue that reveals the reasons for the success of the world's largest furniture and home decor?

We left the city of Malmö, and on Swedish territory, and continue 170 miles along the highway to divert to a secondary road flanked by forests of inert look after the rigors of winter. No blinds or curtains, bare windows of the houses that dot the tour seem to say: "Come and see!". And after each of them, lit a small lamp. A window, a lamp, six windows, six lamps. In the tenth house with the same pattern is clear that this is not the aesthetic taste of a neighbor isolated.

A road sign warns of the danger of wild animals. Inside the triangle, no cows or deer, is what can be crossed on the road is a moose. The only advantage I get to remember from my limited knowledge of Nordic fauna is that if a male, with almost two meters tall, at this time of year there will be lost its antlers. I'm spreading the spirit of the neighborhood is turning around the problems.

The land fertile landscape of southern Sweden has become more arid. It does not rain, but there are still patches of snow here and there. The field is dotted with numerous stone walls built by hand.

Älmhult We arrived at night. A railroad divides the town into two. On one side, the urban center, with a couple of main streets and colorful houses that follow the typical architecture of the area, the style of the first farms that formed the people in the nineteenth century. The steeples of two churches are the only high points that stand out.

the other side, the land of Ikea. The hotel Ikea. Ikea of \u200b\u200bSweden (IoS), the product development center of the firm. ICOM, the communications company dedicated to the group and where it makes its famous catalog. Testlab, the test lab. A large center for employees and family activities, gym, restaurant, playground for children and pub included. Ikea museum, which includes its roots and history. Tillsammans, a corporate center opened seven months ago, only accessible to employees and full of surprises directed to understand the foundation upon which rests the company. The former distribution center, but also one of the largest capacity of the 27 that have spread around the world. And almost tiny compared to the entire complex of buildings beyond the light, the first Ikea store opened in 1958.

Ingvar Kamprad was born here in 1926. If the place is quiet today, so it was little more than few farms far apart, whose population was supplied in the only store that exists and that belonged to the maternal grandfather of Ingvar. His mother was in charge of accounting and lack of child care, child ran around the place it was more fun: the store. After five years and started selling boxes of matches and exchange gains more things to offer, cards, flower seeds ... From his grandfather learned that if a customer asks for something you do not have in your range, you find when you return next time.

With seven years he moved to the farm of his paternal grandparents, and neighbors, without time to come to town to buy small things, receive visits delighted that child who was adding merchandise to his repertoire: mushrooms, forest berries, fish ... Did nothing to behave as an inhabitant of Småland: take everything that nature placed at their disposal. Restless and persistent, do not hesitate to move heaven and earth to achieve record business when she was 17.

Juni Wannberg is Swedish, has lived in several countries as a partner of Ikea and now acts as a guide at the museum: "We could never have existed elsewhere in Sweden "he explains," the entrepreneurial spirit of this region, our relationship with nature and the harsh living conditions that forced our ancestors to make pineapple and combine efforts to succeed are part of our essence. That sense of family, of wanting to help each other, it is important to understand Ikea.

learn about places and people disrupts topics. He who refers to the coldness of Norse collapses in Älmhult. Its people are talkative, polite, curious ... A cashier Willy: s, the only major supermarket in sight, says: "In this town are people from many countries, and that brand. We are proud that Ikea was born and is installed here. In other towns the same size there as many activities as we have in our city.

One thing: in most Swedish municipalities, the City is the largest employer. Älmhult Ikea wins. Three thousand five hundred people from 50 nationalities working here for the company. In these, 1,500 live in the town, the rest in cities such as Malmö and Helsingborg, located about an hour away by train. "Älmhult is that there are many hair salons and a few bars," jokes a thirtysomething worker.

James Futcher is British, is 40 and a developer of products in the lighting area IoS: "As product developer, is the best job I ever had. Do object to people around the world, and here the quality of family life is very good. We make sure to stay on leave today, but Ikea has a humble nature, and it's good to be surrounded by a forest, lake ... precisely because of the humble nature that has the same nature. "

Since his specialty is lighting, I wonder about the purpose of so many lamps behind each window." There is no life if there is no light . After this reply, very convenient for someone who earns the salary to lead the creation process from start lamps so, look at Mattias Lindquist, a fellow Swede in the area of \u200b\u200bcommunication, asking for help. "In Sweden it is almost more important to the summer solstice celebration that the Day of National Day," says Mattias. "There are months of winter we have 20 hours of darkness. The illumination of the houses is a way to make them more welcoming and inviting people to come to them."

Ikea There is another maxim: "do not create needs, solve." Futcher know much about it. The customer is the first and last link of their work. Behind every object there is a lot of basic research. What do buyers? Do they live like in Spain, the United States or Japan? Do you want the same thing a young family with children or a retired couple? Do they prefer bright colors or natural tones? "A product designer must lead this process to ensure that everything happens when it should. And you should have from the beginning not only to the designer, also with the supplier, technical experts, seekers of raw materials, packaging techniques Futcher ...", explains.

hate this company in the air. Not that breathes on the shores of lake ice Möckeln which they enjoy, but trying to sneak into their containers when transporting goods. Unless gaps, most harvested container, the less cost and fewer emissions into the atmosphere. To reach those flat packages that millions of people the world has ever carried in the trunk of his car, all objects have been through a department that studies how to produce disassembled occupy less space.

Ikea Another rule: "We do some work, but you contribute to get cheaper prices change. Again the DNA of the Småland region slips launching a manifesto that the company Shopping has taken: "We are entrepreneurial, we have few resources, but we work hard and together to take advantage of them. "That is evident in the hobbies of their citizens. They love to get down to work. The DIY and mechanics are among his hobbies, and if you go to City Hall to see the adult program you can find from Chinese classes to courses to learn how to build your own home.

But also throughout Sweden gives value for money. There are jokes that refer to how much it costs the people of Småland discard it. Even Ingvar Kamprad, who just turned 85 and has not just liquidity problems, has a reputation for cheap. Aides Closest not deny: They can invest a lot of money in the company that is her life, but austere with himself. Never travel in business class, has a normal car and have been buying food in a supermarket because it lowered its expiration date was close.

So jokes allowed the assembly of the furniture and the hell that is loaded yourself with the living room, but in return ... "We offer design, quality and functionality at the best prices." And improvisation.

In the test lab where we test everything you can imagine during the development phase of every product, from the resistance of a surface to drip candles, fire response of the material of a sofa, fabric wear or fatigue that occurs everyday in a cabinet- a critical part is to see how customers assemble their products. "No matter how well designed it is and how beautiful it is," says Anders Jarlsson, one of the leaders in Testlab. "If it takes five hours to assemble, the product is not good."

persistence and stubbornness. To make perfect furniture or to face the challenges. Ingvar Kamprad lived his when in 1952 began selling furniture in a very local ramshackle town. The way to expose them in rooms, although they were much simpler than existing ones, was a success. But other traders attempted to boycott prohibits manufacturers to sell him. He went to the Danes, very good in the sector, not just bought, but there hired the first four architects who began to make original designs for Ikea. The giant was in progress.

Per-Olof Svensson Älmhult born 45 years ago. Is an associate at Ikea Components, which procures raw materials suppliers. "We grew up with grandparents who have experienced hard times and have taught us take nothing for granted. That, and keep feet on the ground think they are factors of success in whatever you do. We are always looking to turn the problems to come out stronger. "

Clara Guasch Catalonia and Spain is working in a family business. It is now responsible for technical development and textiles in the area of \u200b\u200bstrategy assortment. That means thinking things that can develop 3 to 10, even 20, to improve and gain competitive edge.

We stayed at the Japanese restaurant in town. Other side effects, next to the English school, have a very international population walk the streets. Comes feisty. "The English business culture needs to change now is paternalistic, patriarchal, hierarchical. Here first is the development of the individual. I think in Spain do not. How to get to say 'do not pay to think'. In Ikea this is not feasible. Anything that can raise is discussed and evaluated. It is true that the company has many resources and invest much of it to improve processes, so we can afford to think. But the truth is that there are many have the resources and never moves on. "

are eight-thirty in the afternoon and no one left in the restaurant. Family life is important, and the weather invites you to live indoors. Another argument for Ikea was born precisely in this part of the world. Surrounded by forests, and therefore, wood, cold, few hours of daylight in winter and long to be home, make furniture and make your home pleasant falls under its own weight.

But why should the international success of a company as Scandinavian? Mari Gustafsson, the nice director of the Ikea store in Älmhult gives an unbeatable argument: "We know the customers well, and we all need in our daily lives. The asset of our company is providing solutions improve nice and cheaply. "

Next to the museum preserves a piece of rustic stone walls abound in the region. They say that this part of Sweden has many of those hurdles that they could build 75 pyramids of Cheops. The reason: when this area was devoted to agriculture, frost each winter to leave the stones of the earth and had no choice but to remove them by hand to cultivate the land. without mechanical means, it was best to stack and use them to protect crops from animals. Work hard and take advantage of everything. Ikea pure.

Back to Copenhagen Airport, remember the words of Per-Olof Svensson: "Arguably, a large company in a small town or a small town with a big company." It is certainly a huge global company with local heart and brain.

Source: El Pais

Monday, April 25, 2011

Best After Shower Oil

way of doing ... PICKING VISION

Friday, April 22, 2011

Left Side Numb, Heart Rate

tools. Picking by optical guidance

This technology guides the picker to each of the locations for picking half a special software superimposes virtual information (through symbols like arrows ...) in the operator's field of vision thanks to a "-display goggles." This technology is still in development, but the end result of the device will be similar in weight and design to that of an ordinary glasses.

In picking the location, take the product to be emphasized by the device and an integrated camera will take care of reading bar codes and batch numbers to confirm the picking without human intervention.

The recognition is an automatic visual accuracy than voice systems and is trying to be a 100% "free errors."

This tool speeds up the training time of new and like the voice picking, both hands are free for the picking.

Knapp, and solutions provider expert in pharmacy, is very knowledgeable about the importance of developing solutions 100% free of errors, since in Pharmacy traceability is not only desirable but a legal issue and this requires companies to have error-free solutions if they want stay off the market.





I attached a video of the University of Munich, which although a little older (the picker looks like a Martian antennas ...) I can give an idea of \u200b\u200bhow this technology works.
article originally had here, but as I have received several comments asking whether this technology is compatible with a chaotic store, or if you can make picking of single units ... I wanted to mention that all this is perfectly feasible, since these functions belong to the management layer (the SGA - warehouse management system). In the end, the "glasses" in the vision to pick the headphone terminal pick to voice, the RF terminal or a pick to light system, no terminals are no longer functioning as a black box management system, receiving orders and giving it to the operator interface to perform their tasks of picking and return the confirmed orders to the management layer. DHW How can the vision system to pick the SGA? Well, in addition to the integrated camera allows you to decode barcodes or even digits can be used along with voice picking system. That is, the glasses show the way to the position of picking and you can use your voice to confirm or correct information. The following video shows this more clearly:




Source: www.lrmconsultorialogistica.es

Monday, April 18, 2011

What Happens To Your Body Doing Meth

As does ... Future electronics

Friday, April 15, 2011

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A long time ago ...

Make Your Own Bmx Bike Colors

Money video: preparation of orders quickly and flexibly to the OPS system Witron

Video 6 minutes in which we can see the flexible logistics warehouse used in Future Logistics, which uses the preparation system "goods to man" in this
case developed by Witron

Monday, April 11, 2011

Commemorative House Bricks

How to do ... Engine Block Cutting-English comparison

Friday, April 8, 2011

Luminosity Of Sun Compared

Vs Mercadona: Similarities and differences

images (318×159)
El Corte Ingles and Mercadona have become two emblems of the great English distribution. Its business model and enterprise policy are very different in certain respects, but at the same time, both companies share values \u200b\u200bthat define


- Similarities

Private Capital
can be a giant free trading on capital markets. El Corte Ingles and Mercadona are an example. The exact composition of social capital in the group of stores is one of the best kept secrets. Ramon Areces Foundation and Isidoro Álvarez own more than 50% of the shares. The rest is distributed among the descendants of the founding family, the company itself and directors of the company. Mercadona, founded in 1977, is owned by the family Roig. In 1981, Juan Roig, one of the sons of founder, bought the company with the support of his wife and three of his brothers.

Charismatic chief executive
The August 27, 1989, Isidoro Álvarez was confirmed as chief executive of the English Court. Under his leadership, the company has become the leading European department stores. Isidoro Alvarez remains at 75 years at the business and the management team of a lifetime, but, little by little, the top executive is being renovated. What would Mercadona without Juan Roig? For some, a visionary who dared distribution to go too far in its trade policy by the consumer to decide what is best, but the fact is that under his leadership, the company has become the undisputed leader in the supermarket.

successor No news
Ni in El Corte Inglés or Mercadona open this debate, since both Isidoro Alvarez and Juan Roig continue to soldier on. The succession marked a turning point in both companies.

The template is a priority
group stores closed 2009 with 101,552 workers, of whom 91% had permanent contracts. Their response to the crisis has been committed to maintaining employment, but has removed temporary contracts and reorganized schedules. The supermarket chain created in the last year 500 new jobs and his staff reached 62,000 people, all on permanent contracts.

Internationalization pending
The major unresolved issue in El Corte Ingles and Mercadona is internationalization. Both are still able to grow in the market (sixteen provinces English do not yet have a large warehouse and in six other provinces, Ceuta and Melilla counting has not yet come Mercadona).

The English Court has given a tentative step outside with her jump to Portugal, where it has two stores, while his arrival in Milan (Italy) stopped by the crisis. Juan Roig has decided to concentrate all efforts in Spain until the recession passes and has postponed until 2012 the leap overseas. In the past, fumbled the purchase of Italian supermarket chain Esselunga.

- DIFFERENCES

Super Multiformat against
In 1980, El Corte Ingles Hipercor launched and took the first step in the diversification of the business, which has since been unstoppable. Bricor, established in 2006, is his latest project. In parallel, the group has acquired rivals in Spain: Galleries Preciados (1995) and Marks & Spencer (2001). Mercadona policy has been growing as an oil slick to exploit synergies and focus on what you do and bring out the most effective. The chain has evolved into a neighborhood grocery store with between 1,300 and 1,500 square feet of showroom.

With publicity against the 'word of mouth'
In 2009, the English Court was the fourth largest advertiser in Spain, with an advertising investment of 90 million. When, in 1993, Mercadona opted for the strategy Always Low Prices (SPB) left advertising and promotions. Since then, the customer is your best friend through word of mouth.

On Sunday, we opened or rest
El Corte Ingles is a member of ANGED, while Mercadona is Åseda partner. Belonging to different employers is a reflection of disparate political openings on holidays. The group of stores prefer the freedom of times (two of its centers in Madrid, Xanadu and Callao, open every day of the year). Among Mercadona measures to reconcile work and family life, appears not open on Sundays. The remaining open 12 hours a week, like the department store El Corte Ingles.

Without organization and with it
An impossible mission in El Corte Ingles is to develop a snapshot of their team, because the group has no organization as such. Mercadona is organized with a steering committee, chaired by Juan Roig and consisted of nine general managers.

Monday, April 4, 2011

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Friday, April 1, 2011

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Organizational Change: From vertical integration to unbundling Gestion Stocks

in recent years are chaining various factors, including as deregulation, increasing commercial pressure, the need to compete globally or low productivity of the companies, coupled with the crisis force us to question everything as a dogma of faith understood in terms of business strategy.


By Javier Megías

come from a time when companies tended to integrate into your business the most processes within the production process, from raw materials to manufacturing logistics ( vertical integration).

This trend in recent times has been exceeded (generalist vs . specialist), and most companies understand we must focus on the processes of greatest value to the business ( core processes ) and all other ask the classic question " make or buy? ".... but this approach is still insufficient .

Derived from the reorganization of the market, we continually asked, almost in a nervous paroxysm "What are my key processes?" to focus on them. Normally, under the surface companies really have three "business a greater or lesser extent:

1. Customer relationship
2. Innovation in products or services
3. Infrastructure management (or production processes repetitive)

These processes, which we consider core, and therefore we have within our organization, suffer constant tension between them ... so it's time seriously consider the disaggregate our business model.

The "business" above have divergent approaches producing strains important in the business, resulting from different pressures, priorities and conditions to economic, competitive, organizational or cultural. These three businesses account:

1. Customer relationship : Its purpose is to find new customers and build lasting relationships with them, improving brand awareness and generating new sales (closely related to focus on customer experience )

2. Innovation of product (or service) : The objective is to create products / services innovative and attractive to generate a clear value proposition, and bring to market as soon as possible (the time-to-market is critical )

3. Infrastructure Management : Includes everything related to building and maintaining facilities for platforms or support large volumes of transactions or repetitive tasks. Ranging from logistics, production processes or mass Internet platforms (Model "churros")

These businesses are often have a direct link to the organizational structure and processes that correspond to core are distributed (for example, innovation product often extend beyond areas of innovation , including the product and marketing, for example).

We are used to tolerate and take coexistence of these businesses as an evil to bear, since it believes that such processes can interoperate more optimal it is well within the company (let alone efficient, cheap or "insurance") ... however the conflict , that occur between them are by no means negligible (or from a strategic standpoint and from an economic one).

Elaborating on the above, and to itself arising from problems arising from their cohabitation , we can continue characterizing:

Comparison between the three business models

Economics Focus
1. Customer Relationship
2. Product innovation
3. Infrastructure Management
Major investment in building relationships with customers, you need to find strategies to further generating more sales
investing primarily in highly qualified personnel (low compared to other models)
high fixed costs and high initial investment
scope : Once you have the "machinery" commercial, the important thing is to use it to sell more products
Economics innovation : Only part of the initiatives are successful, but often justify that have not been
Economics scale: The more we produce more lower unit costs (and increasing profitability)
offers highly customized products and customer services
oriented niche markets and unmet needs (or can improve a lot)
minimal customization, avoid special treatment and maximum volume.
service-oriented culture
Culture
oriented innovation
Culture efficiency oriented
The customer comes first, establishing deep relationships
The employee comes first, and that talent is the source of innovation
The processes are the More importantly, Taylor culture
mark and image of the company is one of its main assets
Minimum bureaucracy, focus on the minimum hindrance to the creative process
superior level of bureaucracy and rigid processes (although they may be changed)
Compensation of depending on sales targets
highly differentiated remuneration according to the talent, creativity and value to the company
Payments by Category
are valued primarily on relational skills employees
is valued innovation, learning ability, creativity and thinking "out-of-the-box"
Experience in performing the same tasks and knowledge purely technical.
customer focus in providing products or services only proven and reliable
focus on speed, as important is to reach the market soon
Focus on efficiency in operations, the most important thing is to standardize.
The price is set by the market (supply / demand)
can set prices "premium" for new products
Price is a function of production costs and every penny must be justified
Organizations of all sizes, but to make better use of economies of scope, the better medium to large
The organizations that work best are small in size, agility and responsiveness
The larger the organization can best take advantage of economies of scale

The divergence between the three types of model results in different strains that prevent companies can continue to exploit the potential individual from each of them. To give some examples:

· Customizing huge product vs services. efficiency of specialization
· Focus on the talent of the people vs. focus on efficiency ... operations.
· Payable equally to persons of the same class vs. reward based on the value or goals

But is this an evil with which we are destined to live? In my opinion, in fact serve as an example the many companies that have decided to choose only one of these models business and have taken the next step in the specialization ...

As the first step we focus on key processes, it is time to unbundle business models , and thus take the next big decision in life the Organization:

What are you going to specialize the Company?

Although you can attempt to partially disaggregate the business models and make to remain part of the same company (eg through business groups, a strategy that has been used General Electric to remain innovative ) The reality is that most organizations will lead the surgical separation of the two core businesses which will be chosen not on, the focus of the company .

A classic example of this decision is the performance of telecom operators , as mentioned A. Osterwalder the wonderful book "Business model generation ):

the three businesses traditionally lived in them: The management of a huge network of telecommunications, antennas, cabling ... etc (IM), provision of new services and different products to its customers (innovation) and branding, design, bidding and try to subscribers (RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CLIENT). In recent times, everything related to network management have subcontracted to large manufacturers who are outsourcing various operators (such as Ericsson, etc). Part of Innovation have decided to leave in the hands of third party companies, smaller, faster and faster, which may come the time to buy innovation or license. The "core business" has been chosen the customer relationship, where operators have the brand trusted by customers, and where they can specialize in creating innovative campaigns and continue to generate sales and customer value.

In short, we decide what the company wants to focus , but taking into account some additional conditions:

1. If you decide to opt for models business relationship with the client or infrastructure, one of the most important attributes is the size (resulting from need for economies of scale or scope). Therefore, the next step should be to seek increase the volume of the company , usually non-organic growth (acquisitions ... etc) to increase horizontal integration.

2. If you choose a model of innovation product, you should try to overthrow most organizational barriers that plague creativity (perhaps more complicated!) And establish a model human capital management the talent and creativity values \u200b\u200b(including projects not directly related to work)

3. In the case of platforms , must leave behind old views and prejudices, and try to achieve the highest volume. This can happen to open the use of the platform to third parties or competition , even if that was not the focus of primary production (which is what has made AMAZON through AWS with offering its processing capacity ( Elastic Compute Cloud - EC2 ) or storage ( Simple Storage Service - S3 )


What I stated is one of the decisions harder you can take a company, and has tremendously deep implications in your future ... but I think these are decisions that must be taken ... better before ; that later.


Monday, March 28, 2011

Blushes Matt Maybilline

business. Strategies in the management of inventories.

Every industry faces its own specific characteristics and situations in regard to deciding how and when to replenish its inventory. However, the problem is similar in most cases, so a generic example we can help clarify concepts and help us decide the best strategy for restocking.


Consider Company XYZ, which has a portfolio of 1,500 products to market that offers a comprehensive manner (ie, not specialized for a particular client) through a network of ten distribution centers throughout the country coverage . In general, their products face highly seasonal and aggressive competition, increasing the variability of demand and consequently their difficulty planning.

In recent years, the market has been demanding more variety, which has forced the company XYZ to focus on innovation and generate an average of 20 new products per year.



A situation such as XYZ Company involves a high complexity in the planning, management and execution of the processes of their supply chain. A critical aspect of planning is deciding how and when to replenish inventories in distribution centers. This definition follows directly impacts business results:
  • Service level: product availability at the time in which the client needs (according to a pre-service offering defined).
  • Investment in inventory : The availability poorly planned investment generates a surplus of inventory, which in addition to the cost that this entails, it reduces the speed at which the business becomes the asset in flux.
  • operating costs: Poor inventory planning results in inefficiencies in the operation of distribution centers it is incurred in excess or lack of capacity and additional costs such as transfers of products, differences inventory, overtime, etc..
Planning inventory

Before choosing an inventory strategy is necessary a couple of previous definitions:
  1. decoupling point the supply chain: What items must be produced to order (make to order) and what items should be produced for inventory (make to stock). (See Figure 1).
  2. design the distribution network: Where should keep an inventory of the products under the scheme to make stock.




Once you have made these decisions for each product (which is held in inventory and where) it is necessary to define the mechanism for managing a strategy to continue to make to stock, is ie the inventory planning process. The

inventory planning process part of a macro planning process supply chain. While not unique, it is one of the most important, the rest of the planning processes (distribution, capacity, production, materials) depends largely on inventory strategy is chosen.



To simplify the example, all XYZ company's products are make to stock and all should be available in each of the ten distribution centers. Therefore, the inventory planning process is critical to keep the business profitable and competitive. This process should answer the following questions for each product-distribution center:
  1. How much inventory should be?
  2. How often do you have to replenish that inventory?
  3. How should generate the replacement requirement?
Strategies Inventory

To answer the three questions is necessary to start from a common element: the demand plan or forecast. One of the raisons d'être of the inventory is to ensure the supply of a product with uncertain demand. A more uncertainty, more inventory. Therefore, any strategy of inventories should be based on a demand schedule that exists as formal process within the company.

XYZ Company maintains a demand planning process supported with a tool specialized information technology forecasts and the share of sales, service, marketing and logistics


Products A few features remain variability and uncertainty, so stay low and forecast errors are called functional products. B products maintain a high degree of innovation and high degree of uncertainty facing, so that on average forecast errors remain high. Products C are quite erratic, mainly because of the low volume and uncertainty in their frequency of travel.

Given this scenario, the XYZ company must decide how to use the forecast for the definition of how, when and how to manage inventory. At present, due to information technology tools that support the operations of the supply chain, there are two different ways to use the forecast for inventory decisions:
  1. Traditional (DRP ) The DRP (Distribution Requirements Planning) is usually in the form of distribution of any ERP and uses the forecast to calculate the maximum and minimum to keep each product in each distribution center. This calculation can be dynamic parameters (recalculated every day) or static (calculated once every 3 or 6 months out and feed the system). The schemes supported by a DRP are basically two: Point of order (with variations of maximum and minimum fixed amount, among others) and fixed rate (one filling or a maximum fixed amount every X days).
  2. Replacement for prognosis: This method is supported by technologies APS (Advanced Planning Systems) and uses the forecast for planning

Although the replacement of prognosis is presented as the best alternative on the market, has one major drawback: it is 100% sensitive to the forecast error. Imagine the excess inventory and additional costs for planning in this way products with 300% error. This results in poor utilization of chain capabilities and a poor ability to respond efficiently to uncertain demand.

other hand, the traditional method, although cash, inventory tends to be on products with low uncertainty and low forecast error, it requires a safety stock to protect against the time range. What is the best strategy for XYZ company? The answer must meet the following criteria:
  1. Ensure service
  2. Maintain the efficiency
  3. be manageable, manageable

strategy XYZ Company should consider the demand characteristics of the products and the forecast errors. The possible elements of a strategy that meets the above criteria is:
  1. Focus the demand planning process to reduce the error of products A, B and input, leaving only the products C purely mathematical prognosis. This action should have clear targets for reducing error and responsible in each area.
  2. Using the method to forecast replacement products for products A and B with errors less than 30% -40%.
  3. Using the traditional method of product B with errors greater than 40% and for product C.
Conclusions

inventory The best strategy is one that understands and considers the characteristics of demand for the products and their complexity. Due to the impact that the inventory has throughout the chain, this must be a business critical process to ensure proper maintenance of the systems that run it.

A company such as XYZ requires technology tools that will help support the great complexity of managing 1,500 products in 10 distribution centers with features of high uncertainty and a high rate introduction of new products.

Finally, the end of the inventory planning process should be, as the supply chain to maximize customer service, optimizing resources and capabilities that the company devotes to it. A correct definition of the strategy inventory is a key element in achieving these objectives.