Hi, WB
That is rejoiced to your opinions, internally, documented FIFO would save more capital and space, externally, which would help to understanding and approval from customers, but, there would be big difficult to make operators follow it wherever as QC or upper management.
An organization must figure out a way for the system to be simple and mistakeproof for operators to follow. It might be as simple as labeling and sealing (shrink wrap?) the lots using alphabet or simple numbers or dates ("this lot is for use during December 12 - 18, 2004. Do not use before that date!)
The procuring is too flexible to monitor in order.weekly bins, that is good idea, so IMO we need a lot marking instead of a formal procedure which would produce a lot troubles and many ambiguous claritfied in it would cause further doubts from customers and more non-conformance will lead us to low satisfied.
If you follow the concept of mistakeproofing described above, you remove any ambiguity. Documenting the practice and recording that it is followed will remove doubts from the customers and lead to better customer satisfaction.
'spec.' sorry, means special.
With special raw materials, you often have to order in quantities fixed by the supplier, regardless of what your usage is. It is important to consider expirations of special materials and have a plan to use or discard such material before the expiration date. The labeling and segregating of these materials to assure FIFO is doubly important.
do you think so?
What I think is that it is a pity your organization can't afford to hire a short-term consultant who knows his business who can show you methods and tools that will save a lot more money than his fee and expenses, resulting in a net savings to your organization. The nature of a Forum like the Cove is that the experts who provide answers are limited to providing "generic" answers or answering specific questions in a limited way. An experienced and competent consultant who comes on-site can see and observe opportunities for improvement that the average person doesn't recognize and so can't ask questions about.
As much of an expert as I may believe myself to be, I have always been willing to "outsource" for added insight and efficiency when I come across problems that seem to elude solution. I don't consider it a "weakness" to hire somebody to help me. Anyone who thinks he can do everything and knows everything is either completely clueless or from a different planet than the rest of us.
and thanks again for your reply and analysis, soon Christmas, best regards!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, as well!
Joe