We’ve all had the opportunity to arrange a small dinner gathering of friends. What can we learn about supply chain and inventory management from that scenario?
You’ve invited five friends to meet for dinner at your favorite restaurant. Reservations made for six people at 6pm on Friday. You expect to be seated precisely at 6:00 pm, don’t you?
Let’s set the scene.
- The restaurant won’t seat you unless all from your party are present. They do have seating in a bar, where you can wait and order drinks.
- The kitchen stops taking orders at 9pm.
And the details of your party.
- People are coming from different distances and varying directions.
- Some have kids, some are coming after work, some have no restrictions.
Your reservation is set for 6pm. You inform your guests of the timing and expect them to plan so that they arrive accordingly. Each person independently arranges themselves to get to the restaurant as close to the target as they can.
Friday arrives and so do you. One of your friends, arrives earlier than you. The two that are married with children arrive just a few minutes late, but very much within reason. Your friend who had to drive the farthest is a little later due to heavy traffic and some unforeseen construction. Your final invitee hasn’t arrived and there is no response to your texts.
Slowly, it becomes 7pm. The restaurant won’t seat your party until everyone has arrived.
More rapidly, it becomes 7:30. Your married friends need to get home by 9pm to relieve the babysitter. And just when you’re about to give up on your friend who is late, a text arrives saying they are near and apologize that their phone had fallen under the seat of the car.
So, you wait. At 7:40, your last member arrives, apologizing profusely. You announce that you’re all here now, but table availability has changed. You wait until 8pm to be seated. You now rush through dinner (some must leave by 9pm). No appetizers. Order, eat, and run.
How many times would you let this happen before adopting measures to prevent it? Why does this exact same thing happen in Supply Chain? Every. Single. Day.
The analogy? Replace dinner guests with raw materials, dining table with production cell, and the restaurant closing time with customer willingness to wait.
Reservation time is both the raw material due date and the production planned start time.
Let’s talk about how to reduce your Supply Chain Chaos.
