Eliyahu M Goldratts new book Isn't It Obvious on Theory of Constraints Replenishment

Eliyahu Goldratt has a new book coming out shortly. It's called Isn't it Obvious and it covers the Theory of Constraints replenishment solution for a retail store.

If you want to pre-order it, click here: Isn't It Obvious by Eliyahu M Goldratt

You can also read Chapter 4 of Eli's new book.

Goldratt's Theory of Constraints Demand Pull

Continuing our cash velocity discussion started on March 16, 2007
Side Bar for Wednesdays March 21 post:

To minimize the amount of materials we have on hand, we should examine our purchasing policies. Many times we purchase in large quantities to save money. If we purchase in large quantities, we can often receive a quantity discount, and we also can spread the transportation cost over more items. This savings in raw materials and logistical costs are a mirage, because we have to store what we don’t use and we are at risk for inventory obsolescence. If instead, we replenish our materials based on the Demand Pull / Replenishment systems, then we can minimize what we have on hand while ensuring that we have what we need. In addition, our cash position is stronger. We will have only spent/invested what was necessary.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!
"Dr Lisa" Lang

Goldratt's Theory of Constraints Demand Pull

Reduce Material On-Hand to Reduce Cash-to-Cash Cycle Time

To reduce the number of days we have material on hand, be can implement Goldratt's Theory of Constraints Demand Pull[1] solution. We know from Demand Pull that historically we compensated for not having a good scheduling system and for our customers providing ever moving but always wrong forecasts by holding more raw material than we actually need. And still there would be situations when we had too much of some raw material, but not enough of what we needed. By implementing DBR Scheduling and Demand Pull, there will be an overall reduction in the amount of raw material we need to carry, and a higher probability that we will have what we need, when we need it. We also know that our ability to reduce the amounts of raw materials we carry is directly related to the time it takes us to reliably replenish.

Continuing our example from yesterday:
Our vendors have not implemented DBR Scheduling, so it takes them about 21 days to replenish us. So, for our example, let’s say that the mean time we have raw material on hand goes from 90 days to 30[2] days. Now our cash-to-cash cycle time is down 60 days to 55 days (115 less 90 days plus 30 days).

[1] To learn more about Demand Pull see the interactive program, The Insights by Goldratt
[2] We are allowing 3 days of transportation time and 6 days of buffer in addition to the 21 days to replenish.

(c)Copyright 2007, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.