Reflection – Incremental Inventory Amount

Challenge & Selection

One challenge I faced recently was in the inventory area of my company, I needed to figure out

together with a team the reason why the total inventory had been increasing in the last months and work  on a solution to reverse that trend and have healthy inventory levels. We made a multi – disciplinary team  and, as all of us has different backgrounds, I decided to first start with visualization in order to better  understand the problem.

Visualization was the perfect tool to start because it mitigates some assumptions we made on our

own, if I only talk everybody would understand according to their respective area and profession. With  the visualization we could “draw” what each one of us understand about the problem. We decided to  work with post – it in different colors, flowcharts, pictures and arrows for the relationships. Once the team  started to visualize we could understand the same thing about the problem.

Application

I started by getting the team together and explain what we were going to do, every process owner

(purchasing, planning, warehouse, finance, IQA) started to put each activity in their areas related to  inventory, each area had a different color and we were putting all the activities on a white board. We  draw the relationships between the areas and we also noted that there were duplicated activities  between one area and another, as well as some areas that were working like silos.

We put all the activities together and made kind of a “giant flow chart”, with their connections

and what is coming after what. This specific exercise was very liked by the team because we could better  understand all the activities and persons involved with the inventory management.

After that, we wanted to “see the inventory” not just as numbers but as the material it is. We then

made a gemba walk through the warehouse from the receiving area to the storage area. We took pictures  of the process, how the material is received and stored, the different areas, racks; well everything that  could help us “see the inventory”. We placed the pictures on the same white board where we had the  post-its and now we had the final result of all the activities: the inventory on our warehouse.

Insight

With this exercise I learned, first of all, that it’s important for all the people involved in a project

to understand what is happening before jump into a solution (in this case for example, the first thing some  of the team members said before even start any discussion was: “obviously the inventory level is  increasing because buyers are buying too much, we need to change purchasing parameters”). I think it’s  maybe because of our human nature that we need to solve everything as quick as possible but to sit and  understand what is happening is the key to a brilliant project.

Besides, it was really helpful to the team to actually see all the activities involved in the inventory

management and all “the hands” involved as well. Once the team worked on the connections and  relationships and could see all the arrows, colors and the step by step; the actual state became flush and  the understanding was a lot better. Also the pictures, the pictures helped us to make the inventory  something tangible and not only numbers in a laptop.

Approach

I realized that visualization is a powerful tool to start a process of design thinking, or any kind of

project I think. For the next time I would use more drawing simulating persons and storytelling to make  real what those persons are doing every day, to “put into their shoes”.


Reflection – Incremental Inventory Amount Challenge & Selection One challenge I faced recently was in the inventory area of my company , I needed to figure out together with a team the reason why the total inventory had been increasing in the last months and work on a solution to reverse that trend and have healthy inventory levels . We made a multi – disciplinary team and , as all of us has different backgrounds , I decided to first start with visualization in order to better understand the problem . Visualization was the perfect tool to start because it mitigates some assumptions we made on our own , if I only talk everybody would understand according to their respective area and profession . With the visualization we could “ draw ” what each one of us understand about the problem . We decided to work with post – it in different colors , flowcharts , pictures and arrows for the relationships . Once the team started to visualize we could understand the same thing about the problem . Application I started by getting the team together and explain what we were going to do , every process owner ( purchasing , planning , warehouse , finance , IQA ) started to put each activity in their areas related to inventory , each area had a different color and we were putting all the activities on a white board . We draw the relationships between the areas and we also noted that there were duplicated activities between one area and another , as well as some areas that were working like silos . We put all the activities together and made kind of a “ giant flow chart ” , with their connections and what is coming after what . This specific exercise was very liked by the team because we could better understand all the activities and persons involved with the inventory management . After that , we wanted to “ see the inventory ” not just as numbers but as the material it is . We then made a gemba walk through the warehouse from the receiving area to the storage area . We took pictures of the process , how the material is received and stored , the different areas , racks ; well everything that could help us “ see the inventory ” . We placed the pictures on the same white board where we had the post - its and now we had the final result of all the activities : the inventory on our warehouse . Insight With this exercise I learned , first of all , that it ’s important for all the people involved in a project to understand what is happening before jump into a solution ( in this case for example , the first thing some of the team members said before even start any discussion was : “ obviously the inventory level is increasing because buyers are buying too much , we need to change purchasing parameters ” ) . I think it ’s maybe because of our human nature that we need to solve everything as quick as possible but to sit and understand what is happening is the key to a brilliant project . Besides , it was really helpful to the team to actually see all the activities involved in the inventory management and all “ the hands ” involved as well . Once the team worked on the connections and relationships and could see all the arrows , colors and the step by step ; the actual state became flush and the understanding was a lot better . Also the pictures , the pictures helped us to make the inventory something tangible and not only numbers in a laptop . Approach I realized that visualization is a powerful tool to start a process of design thinking , or any kind of project I think . For the next time I would use more drawing simulating persons and storytelling to make real what those persons are doing every day , to “ put into their shoes ” .