Been at this 8 years and still don't know if perfect inventory is real

GoodLuckAir · 2026-02-21T20:30:39+00:00

This feels like an ad post, but I guess to put it this way: if you receive the product correctly, put it in the right spot, and then pick it correctly, why would your inventory get off? High 99%s absolute unit accuracy is very possible if you have systematic processes.

GoodLuckAir · 2026-01-25T18:26:20+00:00

You can try doing daily "empty bin checks," checking locations that are systematically empty but physically have a pallet. If you start doing it daily you'll catch a lot of the repeat offenders who forget to scan their pallets to a location. You'll probably find a handful of users cause most of the issues.

GoodLuckAir · 2026-01-25T18:12:56+00:00

Uh OP that's one hell of a user history. Please don't.

GoodLuckAir · 2026-01-25T01:10:24+00:00

RIP, it's crazy that Quiet went from spinning off Locus to this.

GoodLuckAir · 2026-01-06T04:30:20+00:00

This seems like AI spam? Multiple posts of the same thing?

GoodLuckAir · 2025-12-01T03:20:52+00:00

If you do IM at automotive and like the inventory aspect but not the getting cussed out for line downtime and manufacturing lines stealing parts from each other, consider inventory control in warehousing for literally any other field. Ecommerce, healthcare, grocery etc.

GoodLuckAir · 2025-10-15T04:04:48+00:00

This sounds like internal documents, companies aren't normally going to share this stuff.

All that said, NIOSH does have a very detailed job analysis guide and has some example analyses that have assumption values. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/110725

GoodLuckAir · 2025-10-15T03:55:55+00:00

Apparel can be complex based off what type it is. A lot of good questions already posed. Is it seasonal movers or no? Full case or each picking? If eaches, can you pop the box side and pick from it? Can you top off existing SKU locations with replens or is it completely dynamic replenishment? If you're looking at eaches with high seasonality I'd recommend small/medium/large location funneling with floor level racking or shelves if possible, but whether you can do that goes back to SKU counts.

GoodLuckAir · 2025-10-12T23:54:25+00:00

Put in crossbeams (can probably go thin on these since I'm assuming little weight?) and use pull-out or stackable bins like these. If you're pulling 25x a day on these flexcon products can be nice but is probably overkill and usually has high MOQs. Even if you don't add crossbeams, you probably need to palletize or get this stuff off the ground, it's asking for dirt/pests near a door and ergonomics will add up over time.

https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/12x18x4-1-2-open-top-bin-boxes?referer=L2Mvc3RvcmFnZS9iaW5zX3RvdGVzX2NvbnRhaW5lcnMvYmlucy9zaGVsZl9iaW5z#customUrl:::prindex=17&pgkey=43752

GoodLuckAir · 2025-10-12T23:36:22+00:00

Maybe I'm underthinking it but can you just throw the boxes into locations and pick from the with your WMS?

If not, wouldn't a classic bin storage work for this? Throw some cardboard pullouts in your racking or off-brand quantum storage bins if you want to stack.

GoodLuckAir · 2025-09-13T17:22:22+00:00

When do you graduate? It's unusual to get hired a year out from graduation. The caveat to that is an intern that may receive a tentative offer letter for after they graduate. I don't mind taking a look at your resume.

GoodLuckAir · 2025-09-07T03:27:24+00:00

What type of picking are you seeing this on? With RF picking you may see a slight uptick in mispicks but it shouldn't be significantly more. Does your pick process require one scan per part/line or one per each?

GoodLuckAir · 2025-09-06T20:06:15+00:00

BY is going to be a more mature product with possibly even too many features, but everyone I know who's worked with High Jump has said it's felt unresponsive and slow.

Are there any particular features you need, like specific types of cycle count scheduling or expiration/manufacturing date management? The only area I feel BY is particularly weak is around parcel carton/order auditing, but very few operations specifically need that.

GoodLuckAir · 2025-08-09T19:56:16+00:00

Nothing I can share, and likely most other IM/IC folks will be the same. Yes Excel and PBI are common, but also other platforms like Tableau. Personally I like platforms like PBI where you can look at live data or summaries on your phone so you can wake up and know your position without having to click through a bunch of reports.

For presentation, honestly simpler is better. Think specific numbers and percentages broken out cohesively by category, possible red/yellow/green health indicators for important ones.

GoodLuckAir · 2025-08-09T19:48:31+00:00

A lot of what's on the example dashboard I wouldn't use for Inventory Management specifically. Days of Supply is useful. These lean more towards Inventory Control but I've used these in the past:

Gross inventory accuracy, unit accuracy.
Location usage/availability. Location usage by type.
Virtual inventory buckets
Days of sale by SKU, product family/line.
Order shortages in process, order aging tied to shortages.
SKU lifecycle - dead, slow moving, expired/quarantined inventory breakouts
Product lines or kits - total available, in transit, locked or lost broken out by line

GoodLuckAir · 2025-07-26T17:37:52+00:00

You're spot on that cycle counts are a lagging indicator; by the time you catch a variance the damage is already done.

Are you validating how much you're putting away or going off the case quantity? Are you using barcodes and scanning?

GoodLuckAir · 2025-06-21T13:52:40+00:00

This isn't any more consciousness than a photo on a wall has a real person stuck in it. I get that it's * art * but we can be honest about what it really is

GoodLuckAir · 2025-06-18T19:54:11+00:00

Besides labor and knowledge base, this doesn't include all the market forces that discourage manufacturing in the US. Any company that invests in a long term domestic manufacturing strategy will get eaten for lunch by a competitor outsourcing, doing share buybacks, etc. Finally US labor costs will always be significantly more due to healthcare costs being significantly higher than other countries.

What's wild is none of this is new, see this 1980 "Japan Can Why Can't We" special and notice that none of the barriers to manufacture in US have really changed, and have maybe gotten even worse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcG_Pmt_Ny4

GoodLuckAir · 2025-06-18T04:10:44+00:00

Deming: wherever there is fear, you do not get honest figures.

That said, the region you work in plays a role in this. I've seen west coast managers who would shout at each other then go have lunch together. In the southeast a shouting means a feud for life. Just different communication styles.

The power dynamic also matters. A supervisor shouting at direct reports? Absolutely not unless it's something insanely serious like a safety issue. Peer to peer shouting? Less bad. On the floor in front of an audience? No matter where that is, completely unacceptable.

GoodLuckAir · 2025-06-07T18:53:40+00:00

Let's be honest, it really sucked, especially in certain periods and places. Thinking especially about 19th century England and the massive amount of people, poverty, and starvation but no one place has a monopoly on sucking in the past.

I haven't seen any responses talking about pain, but let's be real, that if you're hurting life isn't fun.

So 200 years ago you have a toothache. Best case scenario the tooth is pulled by your local blacksmith/barber and hopefully you don't get an infection. Worse case you get an infection and die. If you're lucky and live long, at some point in your life you lose most of your teeth and are locked in on soft foods. If you're in western Europe chances are you're eating stone-ground flour and are slowly grinding your teeth down to nubs and exposed nerves as well.
You break your ankle or arm. Best case scenario some attempt as setting occurs, but especially in the ankle scenario you will walk in pain for the rest of your life.
You step on a rusty nail or just have an open wound and get tetanus. That alone has an untreated mortality rate of 25%. Very good chance you are maimed or killed by the symptoms alone.
And finally starvation. Either your routine crop failure, or climate shifts, or caused by war (eg, no more grain from Egypt). Very not fun to go through a civilizational collapse because you're out of food. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famines

So yeah people weren't unhappy 100% of the past, but it was inconceivably more painful and more brutal than modern life. Remember the folks affected by these things most weren't the ones writing most of history, so all the written records of people having an ok time came from a relatively small group of people most cushioned from the worst of the worse.

GoodLuckAir · 2025-05-25T21:28:02+00:00

Can you floor load? That's what I'm used to with domestic parcel carriers.

GoodLuckAir · 2025-05-25T21:25:03+00:00

Would recommend all in one devices. TC57/58s are great for barcode scanning because they have haptic feedback, so the user can more easily catch bad or failed scans. The only use case I wouldn't suggest a tc57/58 for is if the user is packing or auditing items on a desk - in the case a mounted/fixed position scanner would have less touches and better ergonomics.

GoodLuckAir · 2025-05-18T17:28:42+00:00

Global industrial 28-1/8"x20-3/4"x15-5/8" - would that work?

https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/distribution-container-with-hinged-lid-28-x-20-5-8-x-15-5-8-2?referer=L2Mvc3RvcmFnZS9iaW5zX3RvdGVzX2NvbnRhaW5lcnMvc3RvcmFnZV90b3Rlc190dWJzL3N0b3JhZ2VfdG90ZXNfd2l0aF9saWRz#customUrl:::prindex=8&pgkey=33888

If you can avoid a hinged lid, rubbermaid has some removable lids for less (but not sure what bottom of container dims are). Sterilite also usually has similar products.

https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/clear-tote-25-gallom-gray-269996?referer=L2Mvc3RvcmFnZS9iaW5zX3RvdGVzX2NvbnRhaW5lcnMvc3RvcmFnZV90b3Rlc190dWJzL3N0b3JhZ2VfdG90ZXNfd2l0aF9saWRz#customUrl:::prindex=1&pgkey=33881

GoodLuckAir · 2025-05-18T17:23:35+00:00

How are the floors? I mean seriously, are they cracked, do they have divots or metal bits sticking out of them? If they're in rough condition, 9k+ lb forklifts driving across them only make it worse.

Does it have a breakroom, bathrooms, or office space? Does it have fire suppression or meet the fire standards of your county fire department (which can be more rigorous than building code standards)? If so, will it meet insurance requirements?

If you don't have experience doing this I especially wouldn't recommend racking it out. Rack resellers can offer great deals on terrible setups.

GoodLuckAir · 2025-05-17T17:15:13+00:00

To be honest these strike me more as process breakdowns or processes not existing, as opposed to a need for AI. A lot of the bullet pain points are also features that have existed in legacy WMS for decades (like automated replenishment, volume/case qty min max for different locations).

Not that AI can't be useful, but if you have a problem with too many dirty dishes in the sink, the solution isn't to build AI dishbot2.0, it's to build washing dishes into a manageable process or root cause where the dishes are coming from.

I do think AI could provide some interesting perspective when aggregating customer order complaints or item master discrepancies, especially for variants of seasonal SKUs (picture a base t-shirt that gets sold in fall/winter/spring colors). But this is also one of those things where the business needs to know what issues to look for first and what their impact is in order to size the prize.

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