How To Dismantle A Wooden Pallet/How to cut a Wooden Pallet

Begin by turning the pallet upside down and knocking the chocks (wooden supporting blocks) out. The technique here is to distribute your blows with the lump mallet between the three blocks and gradually knock the section apart. Once you have done this to all three supporting sections place these pieces underneath the main body of the pallet. Using the claw hammer knock the revealed nails through their holes. Try to get all nails out of the wood otherwise you risk damaging your tools when using the pieces for your next project. Knocking nails out of wood is a skill. A skill albeit that you most likely will never write on your CV but one that nonetheless require you to be patient and accurate. Use the lump mallet to rock the nails into shape if they bend. If a nail becomes to malleable cut it in half using pliers or a hacksaw and try knocking it out again. Once those nails are out use the prybar to take strips of wood. In this case as there are seven strips all the odd number strips are released using the even number strips to pivot the prybar. Turn the remaining section over and again on the blocks knock the last strips of wood out. 

Be careful when knocking the chokes of their strips to avoid squashing your fingers. Also take care to avoid kneeling or standing on the nails. The nails are ribbed and not for your pleasure. They also have shards of metal attached to them from however they were arranged in a nail gun. Try not to run your fingers along them otherwise you will receive metal splinters along with wooden ones if you decide not to wear work gloves.

Inventory Cycle counting - Review

What Do You Need to Know about Supply Chain Management (SCM)?

The first thing one needs to understand is that SCM doesn’t replace what we’ve learned about management over the last 50 years; it builds upon it. The analogy that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link holds here as well. Organizations must first be able to provide quality products or services in a timely, cost-effective manner if they want to tackle broader supply chain issues. Therefore, programs such as Total Quality Management, Just-in-Time manufacturing, concurrent product development, and the like are just as relevant today as they were in the past. In fact, it’s interesting to note that many of the firms that have emerged asSCM leaders had already established their reputations in other areas beforehand.

The second thing to understand about SCM is that it often requires significant changes in the firm’s organizational structure. SCM issues cut across functional areas and even business entities. Therefore, the responsibility and authority for implementing SCM must be placed at the highest levels of an organization. Firms that attempt to imbed SCM within a functional unit (such as purchasing, operations, or logistics) usually have limited success.

Third, SCM requires firms to put in place information systems and metrics that focus on performance across the entire supply chain. This is because individual units that seek to maximize their performance without regard to the broader impact on the supply chain can cause problems. For example, a manufacturing unit’s decision to minimize its inventory levels may reduce delivery performance to the end user. Likewise, a distributor’s decision to chase highly seasonal demand may “bullwhip” its upstream partners, causing significant cost overruns. Putting in place the information systems and metrics needed to make intelligent decisions in the face of such trade-offs presents a significant challenge to supply chain partners.

Finally, SCM adds another layer of complexity to a firm’s strategy development efforts. Years ago, firms could succeed by being particularly good in one functional area, such as marketing, finance, or operations. Then firms recognized that they had to have sufficient capabilities across multiple functional areas in order to survive. Nowadays, much competition occurs between multi-firm supply chains, not just between individual firms. In addition to their debates about functional- and business-level strategies, then, managers must now address how they will partner with other firms in order to compete.

Supply chain Management PPT presentation

Some useful PPT presentation of SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT.

Supply Chain Manager Interview Questions

Supply chain managers oversee the movement of goods from suppliers to end users. Many supply chains span the globe and involve multiple service providers. Because most industries operate in a just-in-time environment, managers must find efficient, cost-effective ways to move materials and avoid production shutdowns. Employers interviewing supply chain manager candidates will ask questions in key areas to determine the applicant's ability to succeed in this field.

Problem-Solving

Supply chain managers have to deal with unexpected problems on a daily basis. Interviewers need to determine if job candidates can solve issues such as supply chain disruptions and contract disputes with vendors. They may ask for an example of how you handled a problem like a supplier not meeting shipping deadlines or bad weather delaying a shipment. Be prepared to explain how you resolved types of situations such as a carrier rate hike or routing change. Your examples should have clear, step-by-step explanations. If you were not able to solve a problem, share what you learned from the experience.

Analytic Skills

To stay competitive, companies must move materials in a timely, low-cost manner. Supply chain managers have to constantly analyze their operations to find ways to save money and avoid delays. Employers usually ask applicants to describe situations where they made process improvements. Your answer should include the kind of reports or analysis tools you have used to identify weak areas and find solutions.

Communication

Supply chain managers communicate with parties throughout the supply chain and within their own organization. They may have to exchange information with others in different time zones and deal with language barriers. Interviewers ask questions about communication to see how job candidates handle communication barriers and make sure the recipient understood the message. Employers may inquire how you have handled difficult situations such as an angry customer or unhappy service provider, especially one who speaks another language.

Global Perspective

Successful supply chain managers have a global view and are comfortable with cultural diversity. The interview may include questions about your experience working in other countries and how you handled cultural differences. Some questions may have references to world events or new international trade regulations. 

What is Supply Chain Management?

What is Supply Chain Management?

The concept of Supply Chain Management is based on two core ideas.  The first is that practically every product that reaches an end user represents the cumulative effort of multiple organizations.  These organizations are referred to collectively as the supply chain.

The second idea is that while supply chains have existed for a long time, most organizations have only paid attention to what was happening within their “four walls.”  Few businesses understood, much less managed, the entire chain of activities that ultimately delivered products to the final customer.  The result was disjointed and often ineffective supply chains.

Supply chain management, then, is the active management of supply chain activities to maximize customer value and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.  It represents a conscious effort by the supply chain firms to develop and run supply chains in the most effective & efficient ways possible.  Supply chain activities cover everything from product development, sourcing, production, and logistics, as well as the information systems needed to coordinate these activities.

The organizations that make up the supply chain are “linked” together through physical flows and information flows.  Physical flows involve the transformation, movement, and storage of goods and materials.  They are the most visible piece of the supply chain. But just as important are information flows.  Information flows allow the various supply chain partners to coordinate their long-term plans, and to control the day-to-day flow of goods and material up and down the supply chain.

What Is IRA Inventory Record Accuracy?

What Is Inventory Record Accuracy? 
Inventory Record Accuracy (IRA) is a measure of how closely official inventory records match 
the physical inventory (figure 1). Many managers equate IRA with cycle counting, but there is a 

lot more to it than just counting. 

The units of measurement are either dollar based or count based. These two bases have different 

purposes and may give widely differing results. 

Accountants and financial auditors prefer dollar-based measurements of accuracy. Their concern 

is to ensure that the inventory value stated on books and tax returns is accurate at an aggregate 

level. Discrepancies on individual items hold little concern provided that positive and negative 

discrepancies are roughly equal and the total value is the same. Operations and material 

management people have a stronger interest in the accuracy of individual SKUs. If one SKU is 

short, they can rarely substitute some other part or item that happens to be long. They need count

based measurements of accuracy. 

Why Inventory Accuracy Is Important !!!

The reasons for having accurate records are legion. Stock outs increase cost in a hundred ways

and sap the time and energy of everyone. Poor accuracy begets more inventory and requires 

more capital. Inventory is often the largest consumer of capital for an enterprise. The various 

reasons for accuracy fall into the two general categories of financial and operational. Here are a 

few of them: 

Financial Reasons: 

· Investors want to know that the book value is accurate and inventory is 

usually a large balance sheet item. 

· Combined with other financial data into various ratios, imventory is a 

primary indicator of a company’s financial health and value. 

· Conventional lenders, such as banks, often lend money using inventory as 

collateral. If the loan should default, they want to ensure that the inventory stated is accurate. 

They are also likely to be concerned about obsolete and slow moving inventory. 

· Taxation often depends on inventory value. Overpayment of taxes reduces profits and 

underpayment incurs penalties. 

Operational Reasons: 

· Stockouts interrupt production and create delivery delays. 

· Missing items cause delays and idle time that reduce 

manufacturing efficiency. 

· Schedules must often be juggled to accommodate 

stockouts. 

· People waste hours looking for misplaced or missing 

items. This happens in the warehouse and often again on the 

manufacturing floor. 

· When stockouts are frequent, inventory rises to compensate. This unnecessary inventory 

requires space and capital. 

· Inventory turnover reflects overall manufacturing efficacy. 

· MRP and ERP systems require very high accuracies (95%-99%) to function well. 

· The annual physical inventory audit is a nuisance for everyone and takes several days from 

production capacity. Such audits are required when inventory accuracy is questionable but can be

eliminated when accuracy is demonstrated to the auditors through cycle counting and other 

means. 

IRA and Lean Operations 

Inventory accuracy links to Lean Manufacturing in much the same way that quality is linked to

Lean Manufacturing. They both eliminate waste and allow the smooth production with low 

inventories that characterizes lean. In fact, inventory accuracy is really a special case of quality; 

it is quality in the warehouse and transaction process. 

Lean Manufacturing 

Lean Manufacturing reduces the need for inventory and transaction volume in many 

ways. It makes high accuracy easier. If transaction volume is reduced through kanban, 

backflushing, Cellular Manufacturing or other simplification, errors drop proportionately. 

The stockouts common to firms with poor accuracy generate significant fears throughout 

the organization and create difficulties for a lean implementation. Because of this, 

increasing inventory accuracy through more conventional means such as cycle counting 

may be a necessary part of a lean implementation. 

The Lean Warehouse 

IRA is also an element of lean operations within the warehouse. Inaccurate records are 

one of the major sources of waste for warehouse and inventory operations. At he same 

time, streamlined warehouse processes and low inventory prevent many errors from 

occurring. 

The Lean Office 

The lean office takes Lean Manufacturing principles and applies them to the typical 

administrative and information-based activities of office work. Since inventory accuracy 

depends greatly on information-based transaction processes, lean office techniques apply 

directly. At the same time, increased inventory record accuracy helps smooth many front 

office processes that depend on inventory information.