Interestingly, though, in my work, the question that I am most often asked is, ‘what do I do with all of this excess inventory?’ My answer, of course, depends upon the nature of that inventory, what it is, how old it is etc. But obviously the best thing to do is create less of the inventory in the first place!

Some might think that this requires best practice and is therefore difficult to achieve but I would argue that this really is more achievable than people think. Putting in place the right processes, polices, measures and reporting in order to limit inventory purchases to those items that are most likely to be used/sold and in the right quantity, is as important or perhaps a more important task than clearing out the old stock. This can be achieved by understanding what works well for others rather than what is best practice. I think of this as better practice.

With that in mind I recently had the opportunity to interview more than 30 people, across a dozen companies, in all Australian states and New Zealand, who were all associated with inventory creation in one way or another. There were General Managers who make the occasional big decisions that create inventory. There were inventory managers who take the day-to-day actions. There were purchasing people who order the stuff and sales people who provide forecasts. Each of these people has a role to play in the creation of inventory but interestingly only the inventory managers acknowledged that role explicitly. The result of those interviews does not constitute best practice but I think that they give some insight into better practices.

These interviews were conducted on behalf of a client so I am unable to give you all of the detail or the quantitative results. But I do have permission to tell you what we deduced in a qualitative fashion.

During the interviews we identified the following similar practices that were consistent between the companies that performed well.

1. Inventory decisions (range and quantity) were made at a local level. The locals were considered best placed to understand local conditions and requirements and therefore better able to get the inventory mix right. They had a better handle on forecasting because they were closer to the customer or demand. Centralized systems often missed the subtle changes or inside knowledge that helped stop the ordering of items (for example) when usage had changed but had not yet been flagged in the system.

2. Requisition systems were used to order items through centralized purchasing. This approach creates efficiencies in procurement and provides greater control over terms of business and logistics. The purchasing people were concerned with all the purchasing issues not just the availability.

3. Inventory items and codes were created centrally. This was used as a means of controlling the SKU count. Companies that did not do this experienced the ‘death by a thousand cuts’ associated with managing a long tail of low value SKUs

4. The better companies had moved to central ordering after trying local ordering. They found that this change had a positive impact on their inventory
   Should I Ever Barter Away My Stained Glass Art Or Should I Hold Out For Cash?
   In the past, we've, of course, had many occasions to make cash deals on our stained glass art and occasionally we've had a chance to barter our stained glass art for goods and services. Over the course of years, we've had some barters and trades that worked out well, but many trades seemed to go sour.Most started out with each party having the best of intentions to do right by the other, but our experience's were that each time the trade or barter was made, our stained glass went right out at the start of the trade and then we usually got our part of the trade after the fact. As a result, the folks we traded with were always sure of what they were getting, but we never seemed to know exactly what we would get, so we ended up getting disappointed most times.As we've entered into these non-cash deals, we've developed three simple rules or guidelines to help us avoid the bad deals, while l
   e!

   Some might think that this requires best practice and is therefore difficult to achieve but I would argue that this really is more achievable than people think. Putting in place the right processes, polices, measures and reporting in order to limit inventory purchases to those items that are most likely to be used/sold and in the right quantity, is as important or perhaps a more important task than clearing out the old stock. This can be achieved by understanding what works well for others rather than what is best practice. I think of this as better practice.

   With that in mind I recently had the opportunity to interview more than 30 people, across a dozen companies, in all Australian states and New Zealand, who were all associated with inventory creation in one way or another. There were General Managers who make the occasional big decisions that create inventory. There were inventory managers who take the day-to-day actions. There were purchasing people who order the stuff and sales people who provide forecasts. Each of these people has a role to play in the creation of inventory but interestingly only the inventory managers acknowledged that role explicitly. The result of those interviews does not constitute best practice but I think that they give some insight into better practices.

   These interviews were conducted on behalf of a client so I am unable to give you all of the detail or the quantitative results. But I do have permission to tell you what we deduced in a qualitative fashion.

   During the interviews we identified the following similar practices that were consistent between the companies that performed well.

   1. Inventory decisions (range and quantity) were made at a local level. The locals were considered best placed to understand local conditions and requirements and therefore better able to get the inventory mix right. They had a better handle on forecasting because they were closer to the customer or demand. Centralized systems often missed the subtle changes or inside knowledge that helped stop the ordering of items (for example) when usage had changed but had not yet been flagged in the system.

   2. Requisition systems were used to order items through centralized purchasing. This approach creates efficiencies in procurement and provides greater control over terms of business and logistics. The purchasing people were concerned with all the purchasing issues not just the availability.

   3. Inventory items and codes were created centrally. This was used as a means of controlling the SKU count. Companies that did not do this experienced the ‘death by a thousand cuts’ associated with managing a long tail of low value SKUs

   4. The better companies had moved to central ordering after trying local ordering. They found that this change had a positive impact on their inventory
      All About Freelance Writing
      Do you love to write? Do you have a knack for making words come alive on a page? You may want to consider freelance writing as a way to make a good living from home.Freelance writers write anything from newspaper columns to web content and even ebooks.Getting StartedBefore you go looking for freelance jobs, you should build up a portfolio of articles. You can write for your own website or blog, offer to write free articles for friends, or contact your local paper about writing a column for them. Work on some articles that you can use as samples of your work and build a list of references for your potential clients to contact.Where To Find WorkThe next step will be finding potential clients. You can visit some of the big freelance sites like elance and bid on projects. It is also a good idea to set up a website that showcases some of your writing, tells a little abou
      nd, who were all associated with inventory creation in one way or another. There were General Managers who make the occasional big decisions that create inventory. There were inventory managers who take the day-to-day actions. There were purchasing people who order the stuff and sales people who provide forecasts. Each of these people has a role to play in the creation of inventory but interestingly only the inventory managers acknowledged that role explicitly. The result of those interviews does not constitute best practice but I think that they give some insight into better practices.

      These interviews were conducted on behalf of a client so I am unable to give you all of the detail or the quantitative results. But I do have permission to tell you what we deduced in a qualitative fashion.

      During the interviews we identified the following similar practices that were consistent between the companies that performed well.

      1. Inventory decisions (range and quantity) were made at a local level. The locals were considered best placed to understand local conditions and requirements and therefore better able to get the inventory mix right. They had a better handle on forecasting because they were closer to the customer or demand. Centralized systems often missed the subtle changes or inside knowledge that helped stop the ordering of items (for example) when usage had changed but had not yet been flagged in the system.

      2. Requisition systems were used to order items through centralized purchasing. This approach creates efficiencies in procurement and provides greater control over terms of business and logistics. The purchasing people were concerned with all the purchasing issues not just the availability.

      3. Inventory items and codes were created centrally. This was used as a means of controlling the SKU count. Companies that did not do this experienced the ‘death by a thousand cuts’ associated with managing a long tail of low value SKUs

      4. The better companies had moved to central ordering after trying local ordering. They found that this change had a positive impact on their inventory
         Arcades for Restaurants and Hotels
         Just about any hospitality business has a few coin-op machines lying around. These are not gambling devices I'm talking about (which is a whole other story), but electronic gaming devices, commonly known as video games. While their inclusion isn't the main feature of your venue, you'll notice a few of them lurking in some corner of nearly every kind of hospitality business.Managing them is one of those jobs that is usually done by the short-straw drawer. Nobody goes around with the job title "arcade manager" so it falls to a side responsibility for the entertainment coordinator, the purchaser, or maybe even the custodians. If it falls to you, you have the opportunity to quietly build a little side enterprise out of it, given that you know your games.Many people tend to trivialize the humble video game cabinet, but actually they are a quite lucrative profit generator for the small floor
         results. But I do have permission to tell you what we deduced in a qualitative fashion.

         During the interviews we identified the following similar practices that were consistent between the companies that performed well.

         1. Inventory decisions (range and quantity) were made at a local level. The locals were considered best placed to understand local conditions and requirements and therefore better able to get the inventory mix right. They had a better handle on forecasting because they were closer to the customer or demand. Centralized systems often missed the subtle changes or inside knowledge that helped stop the ordering of items (for example) when usage had changed but had not yet been flagged in the system.

         2. Requisition systems were used to order items through centralized purchasing. This approach creates efficiencies in procurement and provides greater control over terms of business and logistics. The purchasing people were concerned with all the purchasing issues not just the availability.

         3. Inventory items and codes were created centrally. This was used as a means of controlling the SKU count. Companies that did not do this experienced the ‘death by a thousand cuts’ associated with managing a long tail of low value SKUs

         4. The better companies had moved to central ordering after trying local ordering. They found that this change had a positive impact on their inventory
            Applying Improv Comedy Principles to Business
            Improv comedy is a form of theater where a group of performers take the stage with nothing prepared in advance and use audience suggestions to instantly create comedy. If you've ever seen the TV show, 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' you've seen improv comedy. Improv is fast, funny, and quite often ridiculous.The first reaction people have to hearing about improv comedy being applies to business is, 'Come on now, business is serious. How can improv comedy apply to that?'Well, the answer is quite simple. The key to successful improv is the willingness to take risks, the understanding of how to tap into your own creative resources, and the ability to listen to and work well with other people. Show me a person in business that wouldn't benefit from having the willingness to take risks, the ability to tap into their creativity, and the skill to listen and work with others.An improviser
            e system.

         5. Requisition systems were used to order items through centralized purchasing. This approach creates efficiencies in procurement and provides greater control over terms of business and logistics. The purchasing people were concerned with all the purchasing issues not just the availability.

         6. Inventory items and codes were created centrally. This was used as a means of controlling the SKU count. Companies that did not do this experienced the ‘death by a thousand cuts’ associated with managing a long tail of low value SKUs

         7. The better companies had moved to central ordering after trying local ordering. They found that this change had a positive impact on their inventory investment. The point is that they tried it one way and made a change and that this experience was consistent.

         8. Inventory management systems and practices were standardized. Each location or department followed exactly the same process. They used the same rules for determining what they should and shouldn’t buy and had the same authorities, responsibilities and accountabilities at similar levels. Kind of like McDonald’s only not involving hamburgers! This didn’t remove individual decision making or initiative it just meant that the rules were consistent.

         9. Most of the better companies had an inventory process ‘champion’ to work on continuos improvement and maintaining standardization. This person did not manage the inventory or ‘own’ it any way. This person ‘owned’ the process. I liken this to having a Quality Manager; they don’t own the production just the process used to control quality. This was not necessarily a full time role

         10. Inventory was reported at a local level using local balance sheets. Local reporting and highlighting of inventory was seen as an important way to create visibility and therefore ownership.

         11. The better companies were quite aggressive in inventory management, setting and achieving aggressive targets rather than ‘achievable’ targets. The better companies did not just want to manage availability they saw managing the cash investment as equally important and therefore set targets aimed at minimizing the cash investment without jeopardizing availability.

         12. Internal interest charges were included in departmental P&L reports as a means of providing immediate feedback on the impact of additional inventory (these items were reversed before any corporate reporting). This helped make the cash investment important at the senior levels that had to report on their P&L Statement on a monthly basis. Companies that didn’t do this found that reporting a good profit was used to justify an over investment in inventory (that is an investment that did not really contribute to the profit). This approach forced them to mange both cash and profits.

         13. Slow stock was identified at a higher stock turn level in the aggressive companies than it was in the others. This was seen as a way of highlighting the approaching ‘cliff’ of obsolescence and was used as a way to force action before accounting rules required items to commenced being written down.

         14. Virtual warehousing was used to separate stock purchased for different purposes. This is where a different warehouse code might be used although the material was in the same warehouse as other stock. This was particularly useful when stock was bought in especially for one off projects or events such as capital works or shutdowns. This approach enabled a heightened level of visibility of who had bought what and prevented mist