The War on Waste - Inventory

Stockpiling anything is so 1940’s.

The trend pre-pandemic was to eliminate as much inventory as possible and move to a Just-in-Time inventory philosophy to reduce the burden of carrying inventory, moving it, insuring it, paying rent on it. Just-in-Time is a Japanese concept of receiving raw materials as they are being consumed. A well-run Japanese manufacturer might not have enough materials on hand for that day or even that shift, but they are scheduling inventory to hit their dock in the hours before those parts will be consumed. With Just-in-Time it is possible to manage your cash flow in a way where your customer pays you, and THEN you pay your vendor. But times have changed and today holding inventory might mean the difference between success and failure.