Frequent deliveries

Frequent deliveries are a largely ignored but powerful way of leveling apparent demand within a supply chain and thereby reducing Mura.

[1] If we{who?|date=January 2019]} model this idea using a factory that produces three products (Triangles, Circles and Squares) and is making a regular daily delivery to its customer at the end of each day then we can represent this as below.

Here, although an extra stock of two is constantly being held it can be seen that the deliveries still reduce the holding by six giving a net benefit of four at the factory and six at the customer.

If, again, this is taken to the extreme where deliveries are going to be made of one unit of each product and stock keeping adjusted to make this possible then this situation is seen.

Here, although an extra stock of three is constantly being held it can be seen that the deliveries still reduce the holding by nine giving a net benefit of six at the factory and nine at the customer.

This can be done by marking a position on the floor, say a rectangular outline of perhaps the same size as the truck, in the loading bay and designating it to be a specific planned delivery or part of one.

The secret here is to schedule a steady flow of items from the factory into the virtual truck so that demand appears as flat as possible.

This method can also be used to give early warning to the factory that it is falling behind the required schedule if it is to have all goods ready for shipment when the real truck arrives.

[2] It also encouraged dealers to work intensively with customers so that maintenance was scheduled sufficiently in advance that parts requirements could be precisely predicted.

Finally, when the car arrives for its service it is inspected and any other required parts ordered for delivery with 2–4 hours (the next run).