The Record and the Shelf

A week on a Certificate in an Extended Award in Transport & Logistics put the method from the other twelve articles in front of a stock control unit. The unit teaches three things: rotation, movement and levels. The oldest stock goes out first. Every movement is booked at once, with the item, the quantity, the date and the location. A minimum, a reorder point and a maximum keep the shelf from running empty or filling up.

Each rule is sound. The audit question is whether it leaves a record that matches the shelf.

Four checks, one parts counter

The checks from the plant floor work at any parts counter. Where is the need first recorded? Where is the item kept? What sets off the next order? Does the record match the shelf?

In a Toyota parts store, a box of brake pads arrives and is booked into a bin location. When a technician takes a set, it is booked out against the job. Miss either step and the system shows a part that is not there, or hides one that is.

Stock goes wrong in three ways: a stock-out, an overstock, or a record that disagrees with the shelf. The third is the quiet one, because the number looks right. The fix is the same each time. Count the shelf without the system, chase every difference to its cause, then correct the record.

The rule that was safe and the shelf that was full

Overstock hides inside generous rules. Steve Fishel, a parts manager with 38 years at one Toyota dealership, used to hold parts for 15 to 17 months, because the return window ran to 18 months with no restocking fee. Now nothing stays past about 12, because old stock takes up space and crowds out what is moving (listen to him).

A Toyota parts speaker puts the scale at 350,000 part numbers, with the average dealer carrying about one percent of them. Choosing the right one percent is the whole job (watch the talk).

The paper trail

A purchase order number is quoted on the delivery note and on the invoice, so three documents can be matched. The proof of delivery is signed only after the delivery has been checked against the delivery note and the order.

That is a verified handoff: a receipt, a time, a reference and a named person.

A border does the same job with different paper. The commercial invoice proves the value, the customs declaration lists the goods, and the two have to agree.

The dependency that replaces the buffer

Just-in-time and kanban cut stock down to what the line needs. An empty container or card tells the supplier to send a replacement. The cost is a dependency.

After the 2011 earthquake in Japan, damage to suppliers cut Toyota's output until supply was restored. Toyota afterwards built RESCUE, a database of its supply base, to speed up recovery from the next disaster. A rule that removes the buffer moves the risk somewhere else.

Count twenty locations. Trace one purchase order through to its invoice. Find out who supplies the supplier.