Is "invisible inventory growth" happening at your company?
Consider this scenario . . . Joe needs to replace a cutting tool insert on the CNC machine he operates. He walks to the tool crib and tells the attendant which insert he needs. The attendant hands Joe an entire box of inserts, because they come packaged in sets of 10. Joe puts one insert into the machining center, and he sets aside the remaining nine inserts.
Meanwhile, Bill notices it's time to replace the insert on his CNC machine on the other side of the shop.
He walks to the tool crib and picks up a box of inserts. He installs one insert on his machine, and he puts nine inserts on his workbench.
At the end of the day, when the tool crib attendant normally completes his inventory check, he remembers he issued two boxes of inserts. So he phones his tooling supplier to place an order for 20 replacement inserts.
"Because of the use of two inserts, this company has actually purchased 40 inserts. It's a huge inefficiency," says George Ponce, president of Machine Tools Supply (MTS) in Costa Mesa, California.
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