Fine motor skills involve the movement and dexterity of hands and fingers. These skills are the ones that allow your infant to grasp her toys and are used by your toddler when he manipulates and turns his toys between his hands. The primary use of fine motor skills in everyday life is for writing. Children must have already developed some strength in their fingers to properly hold a pencil and learn to write so it is important to offer a variety of activities that promote fine motor development.

The best fine motor activities are those that encourage your child to manipulate a toy with his hands and fingers and, like with all educational activities, should be something your child finds enjoyable. Modeling clay and play dough promote creativity and offer all kinds of opportunities to develop fine motor skills. Encourage your child to roll various sized balls out of the clay and let him use toothpicks or short, blunt dowels to etch designs and details into his play dough creations.

Building with blocks, like a 100 piece wooden block set, encourages young children to build their fine motor skills as well. Activities like puzzles, lacing cards, or bead stringing also allow children to use their small muscles to manipulate an object.

Art activities are great ways to develop fine motor skills. Have your child tear small pieces of tissue paper, then crumple the paper into a small ball and glue it onto a picture. Paper-mache art builds fine motor skills too. Allow your child to tear newspaper into small strips, then dip into a flour based glue solution and smooth onto a balloon. Medicine dropper paintings are another terrific art activity to enhance small muscle development.

Play board games with your child that include dice and encourage her to roll the dice to strengthen her hand dexterity. Games that involve turning over cards, like Memory, or games with small pieces to move, like Checkers, are other fun ways to enhance fine motor development. You should also provide your child with finger puppets and help her to use them during your song time or story time.

Cutting with scissors is one of the best activities for a child to prepare her finger muscles for writing. Supply your child with a sturdy pair of safety scissors and give her a variety of different materials to cut. Plastic straws or cardstock are great for building strength, while already shredded paper scraps can build dexterity as well as hand and eye coordination. Have your child cut in a number of different ways, including short, quick cuts to create a fringed line on construction paper and steady, long cuts to follow along a drawn line.

After some fine motor skills have been mastered, usually around preschool age, you should provide your child with a number of prewriting activities. Drawing with chalk and painting are excellent fine motor development activities. Draw large letters on a piece of paper and let your child trace the lines with a marker. Dot to Dot games are also great for developing finger dexterity and hand and eye coordination.

For more tips and information about Baby Einstein Discovery Card, check out http: http://www.thekidstoystore.com.

People are getting more and more busy. What does this mean? They become more attracted to instant gratification. What you can do is give it to them.

By optimizing your sales process so that their gratification is satisfied, you stand a higher chance of making the sale. People are becoming more and more distracted; they are chatting on IM services, listening to music, posting to forums, watching tv, hearing their parents argue…sometimes all at once.

This means making your sales process as quick as possible. Thrash out that flash movie that your visitors have to endure when they enter your website. Flash is so passe, and I know for a fact most visitors simply skip the flash movie, especially if they are busy, which more than likely they are. I know when I see a flash movie nowadays, it only serves to irritate me. People are no longer impressed by this gimmicky visuals.

The other trick is to simply to put in some hype in your sales process. This grabs the viewer’s limited attention span. Hype works, although people say they hate it, believe me, they are attracted to hype. Hype gives thrills, it gives hope, and most of all, it gives instant gratification.

Don’t talk in boring corporate language in your sales copy, unless you are serving a very senior clientele. Most people in their 20’s and early 30’s, won’t go past your second sentence unless you talk in a conversational manner.

Give them what they want, and they will become your customers.

Fabian Tan is a ‘take action’ Internet entrepreneur who has built many online businesses. One resource he recommends for beginning Internet marketers is the SEO Elite software.

Inventory reduction can be one of the most powerful and value-adding activities that a company can undertake. This is because inventory reduction generates cash, just as sales or cost reduction activities generate cash. This cash is just as real and just as valuable to the company as cash that is generated through sales or cost reduction.

When the inventory being held is indirect inventory (that is, it is not being held for manufacture and, therefore, automatically moving through the supply chain), then the benefit is even greater. With MRO inventory, it is possible that some inventory will never be used and will only ever be a cash drain on the company.

So why do so many companies allow their indirect inventory to be a ‘fat and lazy’ investment? Why do they not apply a simple process that safely minimizes their investment? There may be several reasons.

First, there may be limited knowledge of the alternatives. Many companies think that optimization using software is the only solution. However, companies that do apply optimization software may be achieving less than 1/7th of their inventory reduction potential. There may also be a lack of resources to conduct an inventory reduction program. However, in the author’s experience, once the potential to generate cash with zero capital investment is understood, then the resources can always be found.

More likely companies are prevented from taking action because of the beliefs and assumptions that they make about inventory reduction. These beliefs and assumptions are truisms that can (and do) destroy a company’s wealth by allowing an over-investment in inventory.

Five common truisms have been identified. These are called the 5 Myths of Inventory Reduction. To successfully effect an inventory reduction program, a company must recognize these myths and then deal with them every time they are raised as being the reason for inaction or lack of progress. Like all good truisms, they are each based on an element of truth, but they are not universally true. And like all management myths, they work to prevent effective action.

The impact of these myths is that they limit the ability to fully realize the potential opportunity of inventory reduction. Therefore, they limit the cash that may be realized through delivering a successful program. Recognizing these myths and applying appropriate management solutions to overcome them will help you to deliver sustainable inventory reduction. The Five Myths of Inventory Reduction are:

1. Economic quantities save money.
2. Risk must be re-evaluated to reduce inventory.
3. Consignment stocks must cost more.
4. Software will solve the problem.
5. Putting items into inventory shares the cost.

Myth #1: Economic Quantities Save Money.

In inventory management, items often get ordered in an economic quantity so that the cost per item is at a minimum. This way of ordering is seen to be economic because the subsequent issue cost of the item is at a minimum and the business, operational, or project budget subsequently records a lower cost. The term economic order quantity is often used. Ordering in this way is not economic, however, in situations where the items are not used, where they are written down as slow moving, or where the holding cost ultimately exceeds the procurement saving. Determining the true economic position of holding spares requires a consideration of the total company cash cost, not just the departmental or project charge.

Myth #2: Risk Must Be Re-Evaluated To Reduce Inventory.

Reducing holding quantities in inventory is often seen as requiring a corresponding increase in risk. The risk might be the risk of a lost sale or, in manufacturing, the risk of extended downtime. How often have you heard someone say ‘We need our inventory or we won’t make sales’ or ‘We need our inventory or our downtime will go through the roof’? Some companies believe that inventory can only be reduced when their maintenance systems are sufficiently sophisticated that they can predict demand or they have eliminated unplanned failure. (Many vendors also work hard to perpetuate this myth.) Both of these positions implicitly assume that the existing holdings are as lean as they can be in the current operational dynamic. While it is possible that this is true, experience shows that it is unlikely.

Myth #3: Consignment Stock Must Cost More.

Arranging to only pay for items at the time they are issued for use is referred to as consignment stocking. With consignment stocking, the supplier owns the items, even on your premises, until your team issues or uses them. As the supplier must now finance the stock and accept the inventory risk, it is often believed that additional costs will be passed on to the purchaser. This is not, however, always the case. Gaining control of stocking gives the supplier many more options to be proactive in the management of the supply chain. They can schedule manufacturing and deliveries to suit their timetable rather than be reactive to your purchase orders, they can draw on a wider network to manage safety stocks, and they can even draw against your holding to supply other customers. The flexibility of consignment stocking can provide the supplier the opportunity to reduce supply costs through improved manufacturing and supply chain efficiencies.

Myth #4: Software Will Solve The Problem.

Almost everybody realizes that software alone does not provide a solution. Yet, many companies, when faced with an inventory reduction program, see the need for a new software solution as being a key prerequisite. Sometimes this software is inventory management software and sometimes it is the use of a new tool such as optimization software. Data availability and visibility are key requirements of inventory reduction, but software is only a tool. Like all tools, it needs to be used properly and in the proper context. Ongoing inventory reduction is achieved by a combination of culture, knowledge, and data availability. There are any number of examples where the same software exists in different parts of the same company and yet vastly different results are achieved.

Myth #5: Putting Items into Inventory Saves Money.

Adding an item to inventory is sometimes seen as way of spreading the cost of the item so that the original purchaser can get a lower charge to their budget. Managing budgets in this way is particularly relevant with project and engineering items that have a minimum order quantity. Myth #5 is similar to Myth#1: Economic Quantities Save Money, except that the focus here is not on purchasing efficiencies, but rather on operational or project budgets. Ordering items where the delivery is in excess of needs and having the excess put into inventory reduces the direct cost to the immediate budget. Managing the purchase in this way has the impact of appearing to save money, but it does not change the actual cash cost to the company.

Summary

Achieving sustainable inventory reduction relies upon the implementation of new management practices, measures, and reporting to drive new behavior. As in most areas of management, however, there are truisms that often prevent action, or worse, give the appearance of action but no sustainable benefit. These are called the 5 Myths of Inventory Reduction. These myths have the dual impact of adding to the inventory investment and preventing action to achieve sustainable reduction. Overcoming these myths requires a universal recognition of the cash impact of inventory and an understanding of the behavioral issues that impact management decisions. Only after these myths are recognized and overcome can sustainable inventory reduction be achieved.

Phillip Slater is the author of the book Smart Inventory Solutions and the developer of the Inventory Cash ReleaseTM System - ICR®06, a world’s best practice approach to inventory management and reduction.

For more information visit his website at http://www.InitiateAction.com

The beautiful thing about this world is that everyone is different. Some people like straight espresso, while others prefer a caramel macchiato. Some like roses and others, daisies. There are a million decisions to be made each day, and every single one of them helps define who you are.

When it comes to the workplace, however, many people spend their day in an environment that’s just not them. You may like what you do, but if you’re not comfortable where you’re spending most of your daylight hours, then that’s a lot of time spent not being happy, right?

Here’s a good example. Jackie is an art director for a major magazine in New York. She has a plush office way in the back of the building where it’s nice and quiet for her to work. The problem is, Jackie hates being stuck way in the back. She’d really rather have a cubicle in the main art room, surrounded by the graphic artists and writers. She feeds off their energy, and loves being around the excitement of press day and deadlines. Her office is just way too ‘ho hum’ for her, and she actually gets less work done during the day because she’s always taking a break to head down to the art room for her energy fix.

On the opposite end is Susan. She has a cubicle on the main floor of her building. Her colleagues are always walking by her space to talk to her, and phones can always be heard ringing. Susan loves the quiet calm of the corporate library, and often goes back there to work. Having people dropping by her desk all day really distracts her, and she’d love to have an office far away from the center of activity so she could work alone.

Jackie and Susan represent the two opposite ends of a very large spectrum. A few minor adjustments and both of these women could be loving their jobs a whole lot more than they do right now.

If you’re a part of the workforce right now, or are thinking about going back, spend some time really looking at your personality. Do you like the noise and energy of a communal space, or do you prefer quiet? Do you love the freedom of being on the road making sales calls without someone peering over your shoulder, or do you want a steadier 9-5 routine? Do you need a window with a view, or do you find that too distracting?

Once you’ve figured out your ’style’, how do you go about creating a space that’s perfect for you?

If you need to go from office to communal space or vice versa, try talking with your boss to see if she can accommodate you. Be honest about why you want to change locations, and make sure she knows you’ll work more effectively in the new space.

If you can’t change locations, then try changing your current space. If people distract you during the day, hang a sign on your office door (or outside your cubicle) asking people to leave you alone during certain hours of the day. If you need some energy and excitement, bring a radio or water fountain into your office for some background noise.

Taking a good long look at what your work style is can go a long way in helping you be more effective during the day. It will also help improve your mood and lower your stress level. If you’re in a space that’s perfect for you then you’re just going to be a happier person, no bones about it.

Karen Fusco is co-founder of SilkBow.com which supports Busy Moms with free gift ideas and helpful tips to meet the challenges of motherhood. She is also co-founder of WellnessArticles.net, a directory of articles covering many areas of wellness. Karen can be reached directly at: karen@SilkBow.com

Many different sources were used for this article. I hope you find it both interesting and helpful.

When choosing a theme or style for decorating your home, there are many to pick from. One of the most popular decorating themes today is country home decorating. Perhaps it is the most popular because it provides an inviting atmosphere and overall friendly feeling. Country home decorating, because of its cosy environment, is enjoyed by the people who live there as well as all those who visit.

As with any home decorating project, a homeowner must first decide where they want to use country home decorating. Some people choose to use this theme throughout their entire home while other decide to use country home decorating focusing on just one or two rooms, for example the kitchen and the living room. Because this style is meant for people who enjoy simplicity and the nature, some homeowners may decide to carry the country decorating theme through the entire living space.

Country home decorating combines colors which are clean and bright with country furniture and accessories. When choosing colors for country home decorating, light to medium shades of white, yellow, pink, green or brown are good choices. Colors should reflect a rustic feeling. To add to the painted walls, a homeowner or decorator may decide to use stencils with country character such as flowers or plants, fruits or vegetables. Wallpaper boarders are also often used in country home decorating. It is fine to use these additions but the rule of thumb is to make certain the patterns do not clash.

In keeping with a rustic and simple theme, country home decorating uses wood, natural wood. When deciding on a material for a country floor, natural wood is a nice choice. Of course using natural wood throughout a large area can be costly. If looking for a less-expensive way to give floors a country look, a light shade of carpet might be considered or laminate flooring. These options would also work well with the country home decorating theme. Other suggestions for country floors are flagstone or tile. Some homeowners, if they are really creative, decorate their floors with stencils and create patterns. Another great way to jazz up a space is to use area rugs. In keeping with the country home decorating theme, those with an authentic look create a warm and cozy feeling. Hooked, quilted and braided rugs make beautiful additions to a country floor.

In addition when choosing furniture to compliment country home decorating, light wood or wicker is suggested. Again, these materials reflect the beauty of nature. If a homeowner or decorator decides fabric would accent their furniture, such as cushions or slip covers, floral patterns or checkered fabrics add to the authentic look.

After all, accessorizing a room always adds to its beauty. When buying accessories to fit in with a country home decorating theme, it is good to keep in mind the type of atmosphere you are trying to create, a warm and inviting space. Simplicity goes a long way in country home decorating. It is recommended to never use too many decorations and choose accessories that family and friends will enjoy. Photos in simple wooden frames, plain mirrors, plants and fragrant candles dress up country home decorating. Window treatments should also be simple. Lace or shutters give a cozy country feel. Country home decorating can be interesting and fun. Perhaps the main detail to keep in mind is simplicity. Try not to over-decorate, remember too many patterns will clash. Too many decorations will eliminate the amount of space in a room. Country home decorating creates a relaxing and friendly environment, meant to be warm and cozy.

So that’s the information I have on that subject. I hope it was helpful and you were able to get something out of it.

REPRINT RIGHTS statement: This article is free for republishing by visitors provided the Author Bio box is retained as usual so that all links are Active/Linkable with no changes.

If you are looking for more information on decorating the interior of your home please visit my site at
http://www.home-decorating-now.com

Spinach Nutrition

Everyone has heard good things about spinach nutrition, but not many people know about the specific healthy properties of spinach.

When one looks at the scientific evidence, it’s easy to see that spinach deserves its reputation as health food par excellence.

In fact, when compared calorie for calorie to other vegetables, nothing is as nutrient dense as spinach.

Those who prize good health, therefore, should make sure to include spinach regularly in their diet.

Healthy Effects of Spinach

Spinach nutrition isn’t just about the vitamins and minerals found within its leafy, green exterior. To be sure, it is loaded with such antioxidants as Vitamins A, C, E, K, B1, B6, minerals like potassium, calcium, zinc, and so much more.

But, more than this, the major healthy properties of spinach are attributed to special substances it contains. For example, research has shown that spinach is packed with over a dozen phytonutrients.

These phytonutrients are potent substances that have properties that can fight cancer. In fact, extracts of spinach used by researchers have reduced the occurrence of skin cancers on tested animals and lessened cell division in stomach cancer cells.

The incidence of breast cancer may also be cut with the consumption of spinach by women. For men, prostate cancer risk may be slashed because of a carotenoid substance spinach contains called neoxanthin.

Women who are worried about osteoporosis should consume spinach because it is a rich source of calcium and vitamin K.

For the millions of people who are concerned about cardiovascular health, the healthy effects of spinach are promising due to its free radical fighting antioxidants.

More and more, a substance called homocysteine is believed to be just as an important marker of heart disease and high levels are also associated with elevated risks of stroke. However, one of the components of spinach nutrition is folate. Folate can help neutralize harmful homocysteine.

Do you suffer from arthritis? You’ll be glad to know that one of the healthy properties of spinach is that it harbors anti-inflammatory nutrients.

Are you worried about macular degeneration and other common eye diseases people get as they age? Spinach has lutein, which is a nutrient that has been extensively shown in Government studies to protect against not only macular degeneration but also cataracts.

Spinach has a long history of providing good nutrition. History books reveal that it was consumed in China in the 7th century and, later, in Europe by royalty.

Preparing Spinach

To get optimal spinach nutrition, you should thoroughly wash it and eat it raw. It works well in salads. Many dishes are prepared on a bed of spinach. In culinary terms, this is referred to as “a la Florentine.”

If you cook it, try to cook it lightly to preserve most of its beneficial spinach nutrition.

If you don’t like the way it tastes, or can’t seem to find enough time in your busy schedule to consistently eat spinach, you may want to do what I do and take it in capsule form in a whole food supplement.

Russell Cantwell is editor of http://www.whole-food-supplements-guide.com/ Visit us to learn more about spinach nutrition and to learn about whole food supplements that contain it.

As computer technology increases and the use of the web continues to grow, you along with thousands of others, are using computers and the internet to complete many of your daily tasks. Everything from communication to balancing a checkbook to buying groceries, all of these tasks have become more convenient thanks to computer technology. The biggest convenience that many people have utilized the internet for is online shopping. Unfortunately, as the amount of online purchases rises a looming inconvenience that also grows is credit card fraud and identity theft.

Computer hackers have become brilliant at accessing your credit card numbers online whenever you make an online payment, making the use of your credit card for a purchase on the web a worrisome experience. Hackers can also use these numbers to steal your identity including your social security number and other personal information. The speed of the internet and the fact that you do not always know what happens to your coveted credit card numbers once you hit send, makes it a very favorable place for thieves and hackers. The good news, for you as a consumer, is that some credit card companies are discovering ways to stop this headache from happening.

How do they do it you ask? A new technology called virtual credit card numbers is making it more encouraging for people to make online purchases without the worry of becoming a victim of identity theft. Virtual credit card numbers, to put it simply, are one-time use then throw it away numbers. When you are ready to make a purchase online you start by contacting your credit card company, via the internet of course, and they send you a sixteen digit number that you use on that purchase only. This virtual number is useful only on the website from which you are making the purchase and expires within one to two months of the transaction. If a thief is able to track these numbers they will be impossible for him to use a second time on a purchase in any other location.

Several major credit card companies, including Citibank and Discover, have caught onto the handiness of using virtual numbers and are offering it as an option to their customers. Although these credit card companies do offer zero liability to their customers for fraudulent charges, they can not undo a bad credit report that ensues due to unauthorized purchases. This makes the use of virtual credit card numbers very appealing to clients who make frequently buy things online. Although virtual credit card numbers can not be used for everything, they are gaining in popularity for regular online shoppers.

Frank Thomas writes articles for several online sites including the information and news portal - AboveDub.com. Learn more about credit cards and virtual credit card numbers at AboveDub.com today.

Pancreatic cancer, which generally has a very poor prognosis, is the fourth most common cause of cancer-related deaths. It killed greater than 32,000 Americans last year. Therefore, researchers are investigating methods to improve the outlook.

A large study recently demonstrated that patients who underwent surgical removal of the pancreas, who were given both radiation therapy and chemotherapy afterwards, derived improved survival.

When radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy are administered to a person who has undergone an operation to remove all the visible cancer, it is termed adjuvant therapy. An example of the routine use of adjuvant radiation therapy and chemotherapy is that of a woman who has had a lumpectomy to remove a malignant breast tumor.

Investigators reviewed the records of 472 people who had complete surgical removal of the pancreas. All had negative margins, meaning a rim of normal tissue surrounded the cancer cells. Patients whose disease spread beyond the pancreas or whose disease could not be removed entirely were excluded from the study. Also excluded were patients who had a slow growing variant of pancreatic cancer.

At the end of the review, the records of 454 patients were eligible for analysis. A comparison was then made of those who received adjuvant radiation therapy and chemotherapy concurrently after surgery versus those who did not.

Over half of the patients received adjuvant radiation therapy and chemotherapy (274 out of 454 patients). 50 percent of these survived two years and 28 percent went on to live at least five years.

This data was in stark contrast to one-third (180 out of 454 patients) who received no additional therapy after surgery and whose survival was significantly less; 39 percent at two years and 17 percent at five years, respectively.

In addition, patients who received further chemotherapy after their course of adjuvant concomitant radiation therapy and chemotherapy seemed to have even better survival; 61 percent and 31 percent at two and five years, respectively. However, only 28 of 454 patients received this regimen, so it is premature to draw conclusions from this limited sized population.

Nonetheless, the findings of this study suggest a significant improvement in survival rates for those who undergo adjuvant radiation therapy and chemotherapy after complete removal of pancreatic cancer. More good news is that the incidence of pancreatic cancer has decreased over the past few years.

Dr. Kornmehl is a board certified radiation oncologist at Passaic Beth Israel Regional Medical Center, Passaic, NJ and author of the critically acclaimed consumer health book, “The Best News About Radiation Therapy” (M. Evans, 2004). Her website is http://www.RTSupportDoc.com

High blood pressure is one of the leading causes of heart disease, stroke and heart attacks, and
yet, thousands of people walking around with high blood pressure do not even realize that they
have it. Experts sometimes call this condition hypertension, but no matter what you call it, it is
bad for your heart and your health.

Because your blood carries nutrients to every organ system and tissue in your body, it is
important to make sure that you keep your heart and blood vessels in good working order. High
blood pressure can prevent your heart from working efficiently and can compromise cells and
tissues that need oxygen and other nutrients that are circulated through enough heart pumping
action. Your heart pumps about five quarts of blood throughout your body, from the heart muscle
itself to the tiniest capillary on the tip of your little toe. Without such circulation, body cells,
tissues and organs would soon die.

If your blood vessels are clogged or blocked, blood flow can be inadequate for the needs of such
body cells and tissues. Such blockages cause the pressure in the arteries and veins to increase as
the heart tries to pump the blood through those narrowed or clogged vessels. The result is high
blood pressure, which causes the increase of pressure in arteries and veins that can lead to
damage. If left unchecked, high blood pressure can cause devastating conditions.

Unfortunately, there are no real symptoms of high blood pressure until after damage has
occurred, which is why many people call high blood pressure, or hypertension, ‘the silent killer’.
There are things you can do however, to ensure that you keep both your heart and your arteries in
good working order. One of those is to eat properly and to get plenty of exercise. Having your
blood pressure checked regularly also helps to prevent the results of high blood pressure such as
strokes, coronary heart disease and heart attacks.

Picture high blood pressure this way: if you squeeze a tube of toothpaste, the paste will flow
normally when the tip of the tube is clean. If old, dried toothpaste clogs the tip of the tube , you
have to squeeze harder to get the toothpaste out. Your blood vessels work the same way. Have
you ever had the toothpaste tube spring a leak when the tip is clogged? Imagine what such
pressure can do to your heart. Remember that high blood pressure can occur in males and
females and in all age groups. Some teenagers also suffer from high blood pressure, as well as
older adults.

High blood pressure can be treated, which means taking control of your living habits. If you
suspect that you may have high blood pressure, visit your doctor to get a reading. If it’s high, your
doctor will advise you on steps you can take to lower it. Don’t waste time when it comes to your
heart. You only have one of them and they do not last forever. Do not let your heart work harder
than it has to.

Get the latest in high blood pressure know how from the only true source at http://www.bloodpressurefile.com Check out our high blood pressure pages.

People are always searching for ‘best practice’, somehow believing that there is a silver bullet solution that will cure their inventory problems. The problem, of course, is that what is best practice in one country/industry/business might not be best practice in another. In any case, the exalted ‘best’ practice might just be too much of a jump for many people to take or indeed may not be economically viable.

Interestingly, though, in my work, the question that I am most often asked is, ‘what do I do with all of this excess inventory?’ My answer, of course, depends upon the nature of that inventory, what it is, how old it is etc. But obviously the best thing to do is create less of the inventory in the first place!

Some might think that this requires best practice and is therefore difficult to achieve but I would argue that this really is more achievable than people think. Putting in place the right processes, polices, measures and reporting in order to limit inventory purchases to those items that are most likely to be used/sold and in the right quantity, is as important or perhaps a more important task than clearing out the old stock. This can be achieved by understanding what works well for others rather than what is best practice. I think of this as better practice.

With that in mind I recently had the opportunity to interview more than 30 people, across a dozen companies, in all Australian states and New Zealand, who were all associated with inventory creation in one way or another. There were General Managers who make the occasional big decisions that create inventory. There were inventory managers who take the day-to-day actions. There were purchasing people who order the stuff and sales people who provide forecasts. Each of these people has a role to play in the creation of inventory but interestingly only the inventory managers acknowledged that role explicitly. The result of those interviews does not constitute best practice but I think that they give some insight into better practices.

These interviews were conducted on behalf of a client so I am unable to give you all of the detail or the quantitative results. But I do have permission to tell you what we deduced in a qualitative fashion.

During the interviews we identified the following similar practices that were consistent between the companies that performed well.

1. Inventory decisions (range and quantity) were made at a local level. The locals were considered best placed to understand local conditions and requirements and therefore better able to get the inventory mix right. They had a better handle on forecasting because they were closer to the customer or demand. Centralized systems often missed the subtle changes or inside knowledge that helped stop the ordering of items (for example) when usage had changed but had not yet been flagged in the system.

2. Requisition systems were used to order items through centralized purchasing. This approach creates efficiencies in procurement and provides greater control over terms of business and logistics. The purchasing people were concerned with all the purchasing issues not just the availability.

3. Inventory items and codes were created centrally. This was used as a means of controlling the SKU count. Companies that did not do this experienced the ‘death by a thousand cuts’ associated with managing a long tail of low value SKUs

4. The better companies had moved to central ordering after trying local ordering. They found that this change had a positive impact on their inventory investment. The point is that they tried it one way and made a change and that this experience was consistent.

5. Inventory management systems and practices were standardized. Each location or department followed exactly the same process. They used the same rules for determining what they should and shouldn’t buy and had the same authorities, responsibilities and accountabilities at similar levels. Kind of like McDonald’s only not involving hamburgers! This didn’t remove individual decision making or initiative it just meant that the rules were consistent.

6. Most of the better companies had an inventory process ‘champion’ to work on continuos improvement and maintaining standardization. This person did not manage the inventory or ‘own’ it any way. This person ‘owned’ the process. I liken this to having a Quality Manager; they don’t own the production just the process used to control quality. This was not necessarily a full time role

7. Inventory was reported at a local level using local balance sheets. Local reporting and highlighting of inventory was seen as an important way to create visibility and therefore ownership.

8. The better companies were quite aggressive in inventory management, setting and achieving aggressive targets rather than ‘achievable’ targets. The better companies did not just want to manage availability they saw managing the cash investment as equally important and therefore set targets aimed at minimizing the cash investment without jeopardizing availability.

9. Internal interest charges were included in departmental P&L reports as a means of providing immediate feedback on the impact of additional inventory (these items were reversed before any corporate reporting). This helped make the cash investment important at the senior levels that had to report on their P&L Statement on a monthly basis. Companies that didn’t do this found that reporting a good profit was used to justify an over investment in inventory (that is an investment that did not really contribute to the profit). This approach forced them to mange both cash and profits.

10. Slow stock was identified at a higher stock turn level in the aggressive companies than it was in the others. This was seen as a way of highlighting the approaching ‘cliff’ of obsolescence and was used as a way to force action before accounting rules required items to commenced being written down.

11. Virtual warehousing was used to separate stock purchased for different purposes. This is where a different warehouse code might be used although the material was in the same warehouse as other stock. This was particularly useful when stock was bought in especially for one off projects or events such as capital works or shutdowns. This approach enabled a heightened level of visibility of who had bought what and prevented mistakes being hidden in the general inventory.

Obviously the sample for this survey was small so the results are open to interpretation. However, the actions listed are not so radical that they cannot be implemented by almost everyone that is seeking ways to improve their inventory management. The 11 actions listed above were consistent across a number of the companies that were ‘doing well’ and were noticeably absent in the others.

So, assuming that you want to improve your inventory results the only thing stopping you from adopting some or all of these actions is the fear of either change or loss of control. Of course you could just keep looking for ‘best practice’ but now that can only be seen as an excuse to do nothing!

Phillip Slater is the author of the book Smart Inventory Solutions and the developer of the Inventory Cash ReleaseTM System - ICR®06, a world’s best practice approach to inventory management and reduction.

For more information visit his website at http://www.InitiateAction.com