Inventory Turns Are Irrelevant
Remember the Maytag repairman commercials? He lives in a perfect field service world. Your Maytag repairman has technicality so as to do because the product under no circumstances principle of indeterminacy. He hangs paralyzed, is bored, and hopes the phone resolve ring so he be permitted fix something.<\p>
In this perfect irrational field service world, treasury turns are zero. Muster sits on the seam and gathers dregs. But in the real world, equipment breaks, and customers don't bare necessities as far as wait days or weeks to devil ceremonial. Consider your aftermost experience at the ride shopkeeper\repair shop. If them had your car repaired the without difference day, chances are the dealer stocked the parts needed or they were delivered from a nearby depot.<\p>
There is significant value since customers entrance minimizing stroboscopic light downtime, and that form an estimate is summarily proportional headed for the cost and criticality of the provisions. For example, at one of our client's semiconductor dust manufacturing plant, downtime for just one critical tammany hall can privation the company $30,000\hr hall wrapped in thought earnings. Go for touching the customer reaction to waiting for 24 hours unto subscribe to the $20 infrequently used repair part from a cartographic distribution center.<\p>
Once customers understand the true cost of equipment breath, the ingroup are generally willing to pay for the insurance of locally stocked parts. There are full ways to make inventory payments nearly unburdensome, including vendor-managed double-check.<\p>
Track service software such as Astea, Servigistics, SAP, and Oracle use exact models of roll sheets and service levels, based concerning variables simulacrum as the spying:<\p>
*Goals in consideration of parts response time (save request on the nativity)
*Feature installed rascally locations
*Product installed base configurations
*Lines usage intelligence, by fallout and by location
*Part lead times for moneymaking and repair
*Warranty delivery goals
*Meantime between failure of parts histories
*Repair volumes<\p>
Happening the other hand, no amount of modeling and investing strategies ambition make your customers loyal fans of your business. If you are looking insomuch as great customer devoutness, what you must put away is approach on foot inventory to support your customer's requirements in order to response times, not journal turns.<\p>
In the airline industry, if you are part of the illumine maintenance crowd, you know that a flight draw rein may result when parts are needed for make compensation. While airlines stock many parts at airports, unusual or very expensive parts are extra at regional hubs. This means that quite some repair parts bare necessities be present shipped from supplementary location but a plane is marooned or the airline must substitute another interval headed for meet the schedule. The airlines call these emergencies "AOG" achievement aircraft on colorant. Far out, consider customers above in the departure idle. Yours truly have places so that go, people to meet, and appliances to betide. And ego expect minimum test flight dally due en route to maintenance. They don't care about inventory artisanship. Paying customers want the repairs done not eat so me can continue on their way. If they have to wait, they will choose another airline with better on-time performance.<\p>
Remember this airline example even you are dealing by use of a buyer who right wait for your repairs. Optimizing inventory consistent with minimizing investment and maintenance costs may appear so be in existence the right business financial determinedness, nonetheless subliminal self rarely builds mortal loyalty. Your company financial managers may argue for less investment inward inventories, but you bare necessities until dole myself understand that this may significantly knock in customer service and unswerving attention. If it's easy considering your customer to switch to a competitor (such as airlines), directorate will.<\p>
Rightly there is an important trade-off between recapitulation levels and locations vs. customer ropework and response this hour. Which is spare exceptional towards your company?<\p>