Tony, Author at Factory Physics

The Operations Science of Blockchain: Benefits and Challenges Explained

Tony July 24, 2020 No Comments

Welcome to another round of the wild west. The advent of blockchain technology is ushering in a new era of innovation and change. Managers are facing unknown terrain but it…

Inventory, Part II: Calculating Safety Stock Correctly

Tony July 24, 2020 No Comments

In our last blog we stated that there is no simple formula for calculating the safety stock required for a given fill rate if the reorder quantity is greater than…

Inventory, Part 1: One Big Safety Stock Mistake to Avoid

Tony July 24, 2020 No Comments

Inventory is a great fascination for managers. Primarily because it is a fairly flexible asset that companies can use to manage their financial performance. This also makes inventory a source…

Executive Management Drives Variability. Three Ways to Avoid Self-inflicted Management Pain.

Tony July 24, 2020 No Comments

Ever get the feeling that you as a manager or your company’s managers are driving variability and chaos in your company through uncertain decisions and conflicting goals? You’re not alone.…

The Value-Added Fantasy: Don’t Waste Time and Effort. Provide Faster Response for Your Customers

Tony July 24, 2020 No Comments

“‘Eliminate Waste’ is a nonsensical slogan.1” – Shigeo Shingo Performance improvement strategies that revolve around the notion of reducing non-value-added activities continue to be popular. Unfortunately for the multitudes of…

In Favor of Buzzword Initiatives: How to Make Your Management Initiatives More Effective

Tony July 20, 2020 No Comments

At Factory Physics Inc., I have railed against buzzword initiatives for years. Buzzword initiatives are akin to death and taxes—not anything people like but they seem to be unavoidable. Companies continually launch…

Three Highly Common Mistakes in Forecasting

Tony July 20, 2020 No Comments

Forecasting is often greatly misunderstood and also obfuscated by the allure of the latest technology. In Lord of the Rings, Saruman had the best technology available with the palantir (the…

How to be Happier with ERP/MRP Planning and Run Your Operations Better

Tony July 20, 2020 No Comments

At a recent SAP user’s conference, a speaker discussed how his company (a Fortune 50 company) had challenges managing inventory and production scheduling. They heeded management’s and SAP’s exhortation to…

How to Address Supplier Variability for Best Possible Performance

Tony July 20, 2020 No Comments

Variability is abundantly prevalent in our world. For example, we very rarely leave the house at the exact same time every day. Why is that? Variability in timing includes what…

Five Practical Ways to Reduce Inventory, Improve Service and Reduce Cost Today

Tony July 17, 2020 No Comments

Successful managers apply practical science to quickly achieve predictable improvements. Imitating other competitors or “best practices” of companies in different industries is an uncertain path at best. Executives and managers…

Author: Tony