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Can we all agree that re-arranging and re-organizing inventory in the monument world is time consuming? It’s not like we sell soap or other light-weight products. Instead, our products weigh hundreds of pounds and require expert handling. So it is no surprise that our company’s inventory project is STILL in progress.
You’ll recall from the very first post, that we were looking for organization that would maximize efficiency. We needed ease of:
- Locating inventory to bring into the shop for production
- Identifying sold product quickly and easily
- Organizing finished products ready for installation
Our crews have really risen to the occasion with this organization project!
Before
Before we started this project our finished orders area was inefficient. Looking back at photos of how it was is…embarrassing!
Before our reorganization project, all finished dies were placed in a couple of rows like this. Engraved markers, slants and other items went elsewhere. Each morning, in preparation of the day, our crews would read the orders and pick the items they were taking out of the row.
It resulted in a great deal of wasted effort and time!
Honestly, I can’t even believe we had done it that way, but it was “the way things had always been done”. Yuck.
Change
To prepare for this change we had to move all inventory off the lot. Or at least move it to a different section of the lot. And, because the lot had not been re-organized in thirty-some-odd years, we found a lot of junk.
Who knew we had so much junk?! (Don’t be judging- you know you’ve got junk too!)
We palletized all the junk and hauled it off by the truck load. I don’t even know how many truck loads!
Once everything was moved out of the way, we were able to lay our rows out to better organize our finished goods. You’ll notice we use parking blocks for our rows; we love them!
The guys in that pic have logged a lot of hours on this project! Aren’t they great?!
The rows represent a setting run. When stones are engraved, they are placed into the appropriate row. This has made loading the setting truck much easier, as the guys don’t no longer need to sort through a million stones to find what they are searching for.
Efficiency
Reimagining our inventory and finished goods storage was a long process. It involved considering the available space and our movement within it. We analyzed every step, from unloading granite trucks to loading the setting trucks, and evaluated every pain point.
The result is still in progress but, as you can see in the photo above, it already feels more organized and efficient!
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