The Toyota Production System is seen by many as the origin of Lean Manufacturing – an approach to operations management that eliminates waste and as the name suggests aims to operate as lean as possible. According to Taiicho Ohno, the creator of the system, the approach was built upon a [Read more...]
The Truth About Long Supply Chains
16 May 2012 By
Recently I visited a company located near Hobart, in Tasmania. Hobart is the southern most capital city in Australia and possibly the world. One of the interesting things about Hobart (from a spare parts inventory perspective) is that it is a long way away from many industrial centres that supply [Read more...]
Repairable Inventory Decision Making
23 March 2012 By
Recently I was helping a company develop a suite of spare parts management policies. The process for this involves reviewing the company’s existing policies and then working with their nominated team to improve these or develop new polices, using ‘tried and tested’ generic policies as the starting point. The Repairable [Read more...]
Ask Phill: The Pros and Cons of Bar Coding
7 February 2012 By
Q: We are considering the installation of bar coding systems at our facilities. We will use the system for cycle counting, receiving and issues. Most of our sites are on board with the installation of bar coding system, except for one of our sites. They do not think the system [Read more...]
Ask Phill: Definitions of Different Inventory Fill Rates
30 January 2012 By
Q: What is the difference between Order Fillrate (First Fillrate) & Service Fillrate? As an Inventory person which one should be important for me?
A: In my experience the terms Order Fill rate, First Fill rate, and Service Fill rate are not universally defined. In many companies they can mean the [Read more...]
Ask Phill: Why aren’t specific policies and procedures included in SparePartsKnowHow.com?
12 January 2012 By
Q: I have recently been appointed an inventory role where there is a scarcity of policies and procedures. After joining SparePartsKnowHow.com I was surprised that there are no specific procedures or policies included. Please advise whether was ever intended. Any clarifications would be appreciated.
A: Congratulations on joining SparePartsKnowHow.com. I am sure that [Read more...]
Three Questions that Will Make a Difference
8 December 2011 By
Usually I use this forum to provide answers but this month I have decided to pose some questions. It’s up to you to determine the answers that will work best for you!
As we approach the end of 2011 (can you believe that another year has gone by!) many people will [Read more...]
Ask Phill: Will an inventory turnover >1 be practical?
8 December 2011 By
Q: I would like to take your opinion on the target for inventory turn over particularly for the industrial warehouse like ours, where around 80 to 85% of the materials stocked with us are maintenance spares /materials and many out of them are recommended by the OEM’s as 3-5 years [Read more...]
Ask Phill: How do we measure reduction in consumption of MRO?
8 December 2011 By
Q: A question I have is how do we measure reduction in consumption of MRO? It seems a highly problematic area (to me at least!). We have a complete data set of usage and spend for the past 12 months and are seeking to measure the impact of control systems [Read more...]
Ask phill: Unable to Download Presentations
8 December 2011 By
Q: I am enjoying SPKH very much. You have put words and tools together from many similar experiences. I am sharing with my direct reports. I am also sending my peers to sign up. I have one question. I am unable to download any
presentations from the resource center. Can [Read more...]
