Posts Tagged ‘Don’

Don?t Just Kick The Tires: What You Should Know About Buying A Used Bucket Truck

If you’re renting a lift or <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link']);” href=”http://www.i80equipment.com/bucket-trucks-41.shtml”>boom trucks</a> each time you need one, you know the incredible amount of money you’re shelling out. And, the cost of a new bucket truck is enough to make you want to reconsider the line of work you’re in. The solution to this problem is to buy a used bucket truck. This is actually the best answer to the problem because there are plenty of used, low-mileage trucks on the market with prices lower than those that are brand new.

You have several options when it comes to finding a <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link']);” href=”http://www.i80equipment.com/bucket-trucks-41.shtml”>used bucket truck</a>. You can get one at a dealership, an auto auction, an auto broker, or a used truck lot. No matter where you get your used bucket truck from, remember that, like almost everything else out there, you do get what you pay for. The truck at the auction may have no history and be several thousand dollars less expensive, but will it need repairs the one at the used car lot won’t need? And, if it does, will you really be saving money once you’ve paid for the repairs?

Buying a used bucket truck is like buying any other used vehicle. You have to know what you’re buying if you want to avoid being ripped off and throwing away a bunch of money. So, no matter who’s selling you the truck, there are a few inspections you’ll want to make before forking over the cash. Just because the truck has a state inspection sticker on it, doesn’t mean it’s automatically in good condition.

You’ll want to inspect the chassis first. Often, prospective buyers will check the brakes and tires and stop there. Don’t do that. Make sure you inspect the entire undercarriage. That means you’ll also want to look at the exhaust system, the steering box, the u-joints, the tie rod ends and the Pittman rod, the wheel cylinders, and all of the other parts underneath the truck. Often, when we’re buying a used vehicle we’re careful to check out the parts we can see, but forget how important it is to inspect those parts we can’t see as well.

If everything looks okay with the chassis, move on and inspect the truck’s body. Look at things like the sheet metal, all the lights, and the cab mounts to make sure everything works properly and nothing is rusted beyond repair.

The point is, when you’re buying a used bucket truck, you’re investing in your career. Take the proper steps to ensure you get what you need and not just someone’s hunk of junk they’d like to pawn off on somebody. Visit http://www.i80equipment.com for more information.

Derrick Digger

Tips for Purchasing a Used Skid Steer

Copyright (c) 2008 Will Burke

With all the different skid steer manufacturers, like Mustang, Caterpillar, Bobcat, etc. you may find yourself wondering what is the best route to go. Here are some things you might want to consider when buying your next used skid steer.

You first will need to decide whether your needs would be filled by a used unit or if you are at a point that a new unit would be best suitable for your needs, secondly you will need to determine the proper size machine for your application, depending on the type work you do, the largest or highest horsepower machine isn’t always the most efficient machine.

You will also need to decide if you were going to set a budget to spend or if you are going to be financing this unit. If you intend to purchase a unit outright, you will need to set your budget realistically. Some of the aggravation may stem from not being able to find a machine in the size range that also fit in the price range you are looking to spend. When shopping for a used unit, you must really pay attention to the unit, sometimes folks will let the glitter blind them, a machine with the best aesthetic value may not always be the best mechanical value. You need to look past shiny paint and new tires, you should do a complete evaluation on the machine, key points to check are as listed below.

1. Check for wear on key hinge point of the machine. Check for abnormal play in pinned joints on the boom lift arm. Check the bucket hinge pins and all bucket and lift cylinder pinned joints, always be sure to check both ends of the hydraulic cylinder ends.

2. Check for broken welds or cracks on structural components of the machine. You will want to inspect the boom lift arm, axle tubes and housings, check around hydraulic cylinder pinned joints. Also, make sure you pay attention to the bucket. If you see multiple post manufacture welds, this may be an indicator that the machine has been used in an abusive manner, such as ramming skid steer into large masses.

3. Check for excessive oil or fuel leaks. Look over engine compartment, if accessible check under the cab of the unit as well. Don’t count on finding a used machine that is perfectly dry, but you don’t want oil standing in the belly of the unit either. Also keep in mind that just because the a unit has an oil leak doesn’t mean the unit has problems, it can be as simple as a lose hose fitting, or a failed

4. Check the steering and drivability of the machine. This could be one of the more important parts of the inspection, due to the nature of the problem these can be a more expensive fix and worse, it could be a safety issue as well. Drive the unit fully engaged forward, check that the machine tracks straight. You will also want to be sure that there isn’t a lot of slop in the chain case by driving the machine from reverse to forward and vice verse. When machine is in the neutral position be sure that the unit isn’t creeping (still moving), this can be very dangerous as it could run into something or if you are work with laborers it could cause injury.

5. Check for engine wear. Keep in mind most skid steer loaders are powered by diesel engines, much different than conventional gasoline engine. Diesel engines are much louder than gasoline engines, they have a noticeable clatter at lower rpm’s.

Diesels may also smoke a little grayish-black smoke when first started or while warming up, this is normal especially in a used unit. Check for power loss under a light load, you may do this simply by driving the machine up a slight incline, the rpm’s will drop some but they shouldn’t drop more than 50 % of full throttle rpm’s just from driving alone. Remember that diesel engines create the most power at lower rpm’s under a load. Just because the engine is losing rpm’s, that does not necessarily mean your losing power.

6. Lastly, check the overall condition of the machine. This step of the evaluation is important in the sense that you will want a machine that looks professional and you will base a portion of your decision off your findings from this step. If you do purchase a used skid steer, if the paint and decals show a lot of wear, I would highly recommend a good touch up to the paint and replace the decals. This is usually inexpensive and will give your machine a better aesthetic value, especially important if you are a contractor, You want customers to feel confident in the equipment your using to complete their projects.

Will Burke is a compact equipment specialist and has been selling equipment for more than 9 years. Visit http://www.buyhaydenequip.com for more information.

Stress And It’S Causes

STRESS AND ITS CAUSES

Stress can be referred to as an emotional, physical and psychological state of being which is so intense that it hinders our ability to function properly, exhaustion is also a major factor of stress. In this world that we are living in there are thousands of problems that can lead to someone having a stressful life. Some people thing that only persons in high ranks such as lawyers, politicians, general mangers, Judges have stress. This is definitely not so stress isn’t any respecter of persons; it comes to us at any age or time in our life.

 

We can see stress with our eyes, meaning if someone is stress out we can know, because of individuals’ physical appearance and reaction. Some individuals may have the same burden to carry, but different levels of strength. E.g. a housewife may have plenty work to do on a daily basis and she won’t even complain. On the other hand a next housewife may have the same amount of chores to do as the first house wife mentioned, but this one would complain to almost everyone how much things she has to do. I said this to say that everyone carries around their load in different ways; it depends on how much courage and strength you have to deal with the things life offers.

 

Sometimes we cause our own stress by over working ourselves, crossing our limitations, one thing we must learn is not to abuse or limits. When we over do this brings on stress because we are only made up to take a certain amount.

 

STAGES OF STRESS

Stress does not sneak up on its victim, capturing him or her in an unpredictable surprise attack. As humans we can detect when something is not right with us. Stress passes through stages until it reaches its highest level.

 

§        The alarm stage

When we hear the word alarm we know that it is alerting us of something. Therefore when stress reaches alarming stage it is notifying us that something is there, that needs to be on guard. To identify this stage your physical behaviour would change. Your potential drops due to the stressful situation (e.g. too much work, difficulty completing task, etc). Sometimes is only when the stress becomes overwhelming that’s the time the individual, may now realize he/she is in the alarming stage. This is where you have the opportunity to pull yourself together, before things get worse.

 

§        Resistance Stage

When stress goes beyond the initial alarm stage, the person enters into the resistance stage.

 

E.g. If a business owner tries to complete the backlog of work his employee/employees might have left behind for himself. Remember the day just have 24 hours and out of that we need some rest. This business man wants to meet all his business requirements so he pushes himself to the limit. Which in the end causes frustration. He/she becomes drained and their productivity drops and a lot of their energy would be used up.

 

§        The exhaustion Stage

 

This is the final stage of stress. Depression and anxiety is characterized by fatigue.

 

Fatigue: this doesn’t have to do with how some one feels after a long days work. Even if the businessman sleeps for a whole day this would not relieve him. This kind of fatigue is accompanied by nervousness, irritableness, tension, and anger.

 

A person would get very anxious even if the occasion doesn’t call for anxiety.

 

Depression is referred to when a person lack motivation, self esteem; they won’t even find pleasure in fun activities. Sleeplessness and negative thoughts (e.g. suicide etc).can trigger off a person physically and psychologically.

 

 

 

 

CAUSES OF STRESS

There is said to be two types of stress internal and external.

 

First stress factors stems from external circumstances such as our environment, job, family, or studies.

 

Second stress this is the one we can produce for ourselves. The way in which we handle different situations, our personality, our temperament and level of self control can be all sources of stress. Our mental and physical health plays an influential part on the amount of stress we have.

 

Stress doesn’t have to be major it can be simple things that trigger off our stress level, these are some of the things that can stress you out (E.g. getting the kids ready for school, Wars in your country, tragedies such as tsunami, earthquakes, avalanche, losing something that is valuable, along with many other incidents that produces stress.

 

We have to pay very good attention to all the factors that causes stress in our lives. Because if we don’t we can end up with a nervous breakdown, which is a path to MENTAL insanity.

 

OCCUPATIONS WITH A HIGH LEVEL OF STRESS

 

Air Traffic Controller           Businessman

Pilot                                        Physician

Stockbroker                           House wife

Teachers/ Lecturers             Construction worker

Sales person                          Lawyers

Judges                                   Police Officer

Fire Men                                Captain

Prison Officer                        Coast Guards

Telephone operators          Miners

 

The level of stress would vary in each occupation because some is more time consuming and needs a lot of our input for things to run smoothly. There are many more professions that are very strenuous and can bring on stress very strongly, but I only mentioned a few.

 

COPING WITH STRESS ON THE JOB

 

Handling stress is not as easy as it may sound.  When we have to work in environments with hoggish managers and employees, which acts as though they established the company. Sometimes we feel like saying and acting the wrong way to them. This surely won’t solve the problem when we lower ourselves to others to become even.

 

Instead whisper a pray for that person. Try different relaxing techniques at work that can keep your attention away from those that tries everyday to upset, oppress and stress you.

 

Function on what you have to do. Try not to meddle in people personal business as this can cause you to add tension to your existing problems.

 

If perhaps another co-worker has less qualification than you and gets promoted before you do. Don’t get all frustrated and angry about it, Think about it this way in life everything is not fair and what you didn’t get in this life was never meant to be for you. Always keep in your mind that what is for you, there is no one that can take it away.

 

Let’s look at it this way if you had been promoted, you might have gotten proud and look down on others. While you are at a lower position it would keep you humble. Another thing is every day we complain, have you ever stop for a moment and think about those that don’t have jobs. There are so many people dying every day for food, they have no home, clothes etc. But you have a job you have something to eat everyday. Do you know what is to be hungry for weeks, months?

 

Whenever you think that you are in a bad situation there is someone somewhere who is worst off than you. Be grateful for what you have and stop looking at all the big things in life.

 

Wherever we go there will always be different types of people. Don’t think if you get another job it would help, it may in one or two instances but other problems would arise. There are some things that we as humans would never be able to stomach (e.g.

 People who have no self value always looking for conflict, )

 

STRESSFUL EVENTS

 

Most of us if not all face stressful events sometime throughout our life span. Some think that only negative things can cause stress, but it has been proven that also positive things can cause stress. (E.g. if you are promoted on the job for a higher position, this means more would be required of you, because of your rank and also the new salary you would be receiving. Your stress level will surely incline when you have more responsibilities).

 

Negative effects of stress if someone loses their spouse, parent, grandparent, friend etc. by death. This can take a very negative toll on that individual, especially if the individual and the person that died were very close. In some cases some may turn to drinking, smoking just to help them cope with that present stressful phase that him/her may be going through.

 

FRUSTRATIONS THAT WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH ON A DAILY BASIS.

 

Some of it begins at home, then the everyday traffic we have to face makes us stressed and frustrated before we even reach to work, added to that when you reach to work you have to put up with your work mates who sometimes can be pretty annoying or some old machine, computer in the office that isn’t working efficiently. Especially when you have to complete a task for a certain time, this can be very frustrating, because it slows down your working pace and test your patience.

 

The environment has a very big part to play on how we react to stress. A noisy neighbourhood or workplace can send you crazy if you don’t have patience, temperance, your stress level will be sky rocketed for sure.

 

HAVING OUR OWN SPACE

 

Every human being and animals like to have there own territory to develop and live. Being to cluster can hinder one’s growth. (E.G. some people don’t like being amongst to many people. It can cause them to be nervous or react differently). The way our human natures are made up, we always look for a short cut or some way out of a problem. Rather than facing that problem we run or try to find a solution, which sometimes fails miserably.  I think the best way to deal with any problem is to stand up and face it, even if you may have to shed some tears. Even though we may run from circumstances, ask yourself how far I can run, could you run away from your memory? NO!

 

Let’s say you had a child that died at a very tender age, as a parent you would feel the pain and sorrows that death has to offer. You may go on a trip away from the house for the memory of that child not to hunt you, but believe me when all the fun is over you would return to that same old problem.

 

We run too much from our trials and that’s why some of us never grow up. Most times we are the ones who cause stress on ourselves then we blame it on work, the kids, everyone but ourselves. Let us be men and women, not little cowards.

 

WHY THERE ARE SO MANY MARITAL STRESS

 

Some people think that marriage is a bed of roses; you know there won’t ever be a bad moment. That’s the biggest mistake you would be making if you are to marry. Everyone is different even if you are a twin. You won’t think the same. So when you marry is obviously the husband/wife would have different taught, ideas and ways. You have to decide that you are willing and able to deal with these challenges.

 

I believe many people only hear the nice part of the wedding vows and for the bad part they get deft deliberately. Priest/ pastors say for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer in sickness and in health. Some only hear for BETTER, for RICHER and in HEALTH. That’s why when trouble comes knocking at the door, you run away and ask someone else to get it.

 

Millions of divorces are because of what I said above. People are not willing to deal with there offences. If the husband looses his job. The wife packs up her bag and leave why she not able with the poor life. He gets sick; she is not able with that.

 

In order for things to work out you have to be able to understand each other, forgive gave in sometimes, we as humans hardly like to acknowledge that we are wrong. Always sticking fingers at others. First we have to know how to speak to each other, gave the person the respect he/she needs. In marriage communication is the key to keeping the love alive and surviving marital problems.

 

Gave the person a listening ear while he/she speaks chose the right time to speak, as the saying goes there is a time for everything .Some after marriage they don’t have anything say. Before the wedding they was talking more than their breath would aloud them to breathe.

 

HOW TO PREVENT STRESS

 

There are ways and means that can be used to help prevent stress. I would say that stress is like a cancer cell it lives in your body, it just doesn’t shows up itself. Things have to happen first to trigger it off. It also has no cure like cancer even if you can do certain things to lessen it. At sometime in your life it would pop up. There are times we all feel up and other times we are down.

 

One morning you would get up and just not feel like it, a sign of depression kicks in. You are so out of it, you would be grumpy with the children/friends/co-workers for no particular reason.

 

PREVENTIONS

 

o       Don’t over work yourself

o       Try your best not to get irritable

o       Have less arguments

o       Forgive and try hard to forget

o       Identify your problems in the alarming stage

o       Come to a compromise

o       Be a better husband/wife/child

o       Stay quiet if you have nothing good to say

o       Have a very good spiritual life

o       View others at their age group

 

BRIEFING ON PREVENTIONS MENTIONED ABOVE

 

Over working yourself can cause you to be awfully tired and this is not a good sign. Even if you maybe in a conflict at the moment try calming yourself down before getting all worked up, in a case where your husband/wife/children may upset you think about a better way to deal with them, it will only make the situation tense if you heat up an argument. Always try to maintain a forgiving attitude, remember that no one is perfect. Be the one who are always willing to settle disputes even if it means giving up your rights.

 

Take a moment sit down or take a cool walk outside and talk to yourself, find out what is your problem, why am I reacting like this? Sometimes in life we may compromise a bit just not to hurt the other party feelings, if you are having problems with your husband smoking, coming home late etc. See if you can get him to talk when he is sober. Two of you come to an agreement where you two decide to go to a counsellor for help. Who can help guide you two through your difficult times?

 

HAVE A GOOD SPIRITUAL LIFE

 

Having a spiritual background is really important especially in difficult times. That’s one of the fore most foundations you must lay, have frequent communication with God, read your bible and pray. God alone knows what each and everyone of us go through. There is NO doctor or physician/ psychologist that can fully restore you. They may be able to help, but Jesus is the one who can take away all your burdens.

 

When you are having problems at home and at work just whisper a little prayer. Children straying and don’t want to listen, when you develop a friendly communication with God. He would work to suit in your life; HE alone knows why everything happens to you. If you do as I say you would see a great difference in your life.

 

Many people don’t have time for God is just to jump off the bed in the morning without saying thank you God. If it wasn’t for him you would not have even made it to see another day. Put God first in your life. Some people only put him first when trouble comes, that is not right, know Him in good and bad times. If you want to be selfish and gave all your time to natural things that seems more important to you than God. When you do find the time to pray and he takes long to answer your pray don’t get upset, think about how you treat him.

 

 

 

LET STRESS KNOW WHO’S IN CHARGE

 

We are the ones that are in charge we have a conscience that lives within us to let us know wrong from right. You are the one that controls your body; let stress know that you cannot allow it to control you. Be the one in charge developing that kind of attitude and everything would fall into place. When stress wants to have you all gloomy, take another toll find some things to do that you like that would up lift you.

 

 

 

All the things mentioned above if you apply it to your everyday life there would be changes that you thought you could have never seen in your life.

                                 

 

                                                                   Done By: Abigail Chandler

                                                                   Date: 17/02/09

D.O.B. : January 4th ,1988

Horoscope: Capricorn

Age: Twenty years (20ys)

Place of birth: Trinidad

Current Nationality: Trinidad

Sibblings: Three sisters

Hobbies: Reading interested articles, stories about nature, life, fiction, non fiction. I love writing stories and articles i hope to publish a book some day. I also like using computers, and the internet it helps me learn new things, Sewing, playing organ/piano or any musical instrument that is appealing to me.

Favorite Authors:
Enid Blyton, Danielle Steel,Dr. Julian Melgosa, Ossie Davis,

Lgn Prosperity Exposed

Can LGN prosperity really deliver on all the promises?

Is the lifestyle of your dreams really just around the corner with this company?

Just what if your mailbox turned into a virtual slot machine that read 777 on the side. Over an over again, you lift the red flag and in pops checks for $770 bucks.

What if you were able to profit from the 3 biggest cash producing industries on the planet? Travel, software, and self help training?

I mean that would be sweet, right?

Well my friend, your about to get your “lucky” break, or so they say.

This company just started in December of 2009. LGN prosperity was formed by a man named James Ward who is the mastermind behind LGN revolution, another online money making project that’s been in business for about 2 and half years.

THE PRODUCT
So how does it work? Basically, in LGN prosperity, you fork out $300 bucks for a membership website that allows you to download ebooks, software and other personal development stuff.

I have not yet personally looked at the products so I can’t say for sure if the value is there for the $299.

One big advantage to this company is they really do have a cool website.

I’m curious, however, how come they don’t use any name recognition from their “top trainers” to borrow some credibility.

If people like Brian Tracy or Mark Victor Hansen were involved in this project, you would think they would use those “Big Names” as a selling point on the website.

One website said that all the products can be found at no cost on other websites.

Of that, I don’t know.

THE COMPENSATION
The thing that is really exciting regarding this opportunity is the fact that it’s easy for the vast majority of people to understand. That, my friend, is a recipe for rapid growth.

In It also has some “get rich quick” aspect to the presentation as prospects can see themselves cycling over and over in a very short amount of time, and getting $777 checks printed each time. That’s pretty appealing.

The income in this compensation plan will be entirely based upon consistently bringing new recruits into the business.

There have been companies that produced MASSIVE incomes for their reps using similar style compensation plans. Destiny Telecom was a company that sold a calling card. The compensation was similar in that there was a one time only purchase.

This company will get some good short term publicity and attention if it takes off like some companies of the past.

Most likely, distributors will be trapped in a never ending sales job striving for a cycle so they can get a check.

THE REAL MAGIC MONEY MAKING SECRET
LGN prosperity seems like a decent project with some good income potential but I want to let you in on a little secret.

There are over 1000 network marketing companies, each promoting jaw dropping pay plans. Do you want to know where the real money is made?

Imagine a fire hydrant that you could turn on whenever you want. But instead of shooting out water, this fire hydrant shot out people that were hungry for opportunity. These people were not only drooling for opportunity, they had money to spend and they were ready to put that money wherever you told them to.

What if, each day, you had to limit your phone appointments to 20 minutes each because so many people wanted to work with you in your business?

It really wouldn’t matter so much what program you were promoting because you could fill up any compensation plan you wanted, in a very short amount of time and make a ton of money.

Don’t get caught up on the wrong things. With LGN prosperity, you’re still going to have to find people that want to join a business.

Without being able to recruit opportunity hungry people, you won’t make a dime.

Fortunately, thousands and thousands of people get online every day looking for ways to make money from home.

If you would like to learn how to tap into that HUGE demand so you can explode LGN Prosperity or whatever home biz opportunity you are promoting? go to http://www.MLMInternetExplosion.com and sign up for the FREE training.

LGN Prosperity won’t know what hit em’ when you become a marketing master with these exclusive marketing secrets.

Beauty Secrets

To become the most beautiful self is everybody’s wish. We used to looking on the others and sighing deeply that why she is so beautiful while I am just in a so normal appearance? Don’t envy the others, you can also become a beautiful yourself, it just need some right ways. Here are five myths for you reference to.

MYTH 1: RUBBING LEMON ON YOUR TEETH WILL GIVE YOU PEARLY WHITES
This actually does work, but it comes with a price. While lemons do help you get lighter locks, they don’t really work on your teeth since the citric acid in lemons wears away enamel. Save the lemons for the lemonade and instead brush your teeth with water and baking soda a couple times a week to get those pearly whites at home.

MYTH 2: YOU CAN’T PULL OFF ALL COLORS
If there is one thing I always hear from my girlfriends is that ‘I can’t wear THAT color!’, (here are many colors of ugg calssic boots are availabl, and pink is my favorite, let’s check: UGG Classic Tall Boots 5815 Pink) which is absolutely ridiculous. The one thing you have to pay special attention to is the shades of the color as well as the undertones. So while a hot, fiery red might not suit your complexion, a toned-down version might do you wonders!

MYTH 3: LASER HAIR REMOVAL DOES NOT WORK FOR LIGHT HAIR
Who came up with that? Either way, it’s not true. Although laser hair removal does work better for darker hair, lighter does works just as fine. With lighter hair, you’ll see about 70-80% removal of the hair. So just go one extra time and you’ll be fine!

MYTH 4: PETITE GIRLS CAN’T PULL OF LINGERIE
Another stupid myth made up by guys who like big-chested girls. There are so many different types of lingerie out there made for every body, including petite. So next time you wanna surprise your man but you think you won’t be able to pull it off, just go out and find a nice up-lifting water bra and it’ll do the job!

MYTH 5: YOU NEED FREQUENT HAIRCUTS IF YOU WANT YOUR HAIR TO GROW LONGER
Wrong again. Your hair will grow at the same speed with or without a haircut. But regular haircuts will help improve the overall health of your hair as well as getting rid of those pesky split ends.

Well, the best way to look prettier is by been natural, and even there is a need for makeup it should be applied lightly, not looking like a masquerade. It’s great when you create your style. Besides these, if you want to be a perfect fashion master, you also need a pair of ugg classic boots, by the way, here are many boots on sale at our UGGs discount supplier.

 

Five Ways To Make Money At Home Working Online

Make money from home, who wouldn’t want to do that? It’s an attractive idea. It’s a great idea. It’s the new way to earn. If the idea of wanting to make money from home has crossed your mind, you are not alone. Thousands of people around the world are sick of their jobs and looking for work at home opportunities. Stay at home Moms, such as myself, are looking for ways to make extra money from home so they can spend more time with their children and at the same time, contribute to the household finances. College students are looking for ways to create income so that they can have extra money as they go to school.

Learning how to make money from home is one of the best things you can do. There are many benefits you can enjoy by making money at home. It is a rewarding experience and one that is worth the time and effort.

The first critical step to make money from home is to start with a good idea. The best way to do this is to sit down and identify what it is you’re passionate about. Do you have a special talent, such as playing a musical instrument? Are you a great cook? Do people always come to you for advice on how to fix things? What are your hobbies and interests? If you stop and think about it, any one of these can be turned into a profitable product for you to create and sell. Remember, the number one thing people use the Internet for is to look up information. So the best way to make money from home is to give the people what they want by having your own website, centered around your own products, hobby or interests.

If, after brainstorming, you still can’t think of something to create and turn into a product to sell online, don’t despair. There are many ways to make money online. Here are just a few:

• eBay – One of the quickest and easiest ways to make money from home is with eBay. You can sell anything you want, from stuffed toys, old clothes your family has outgrown or never worn, to computer peripherals to a recipe book written by you. Clean out your garage and closets and you’re sure to find things you want to get rid of. Remember the old saying, ‘one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.’

• Affiliate Marketing – Don’t have a product of your own to sell? Then try selling someone else’s. How many times have you recommended a product or service to a family member or friends and they went out and bought it? We do that all the time, right? Now imagine doing that on the Internet only this time you won’t be recommending something to a few people. With the power of the Internet, you can recommend products to the entire world, if they have an Internet access that is. With Affiliate Marketing companies pay you for referrals that result in a sale or lead. Joining affiliate programs is one of the “free ways to make easy money” on the net. It’s very easy to get started.

• Paid Surveys – Another easy way to make money from home is filling out Paid Surveys on your computer. I have done this myself so I know it works. The only downfall to this is that you have to have a lot of time to dedicate to this. Some surveys are 20 minutes or longer and will pay you anywhere from $2 to up to $100, although I have never been lucky enough to qualify for a $100 survey. I don’t have a lot of spare time to dedicate to this so I choose to spend most of my time being an Affiliate Marketer, selling on eBay, and creating products to sell. I make more money doing that than filling out Paid Surveys. If you are still interested in making money with Paid Surveys by all means feel free to do so. Just keep in mind the time involved and the fact that you will make money, but you may not make lot of money doing it.

• Stock Photography – One easy way to make money from home is by using your photos. Stock photography is very big right now. Many companies and large corporations need pictures they can use on their website or brochures. They will pay Stock Photography Companies a lot of money for quality photos. Some corporations even create software that
have pictures in it, such as Print Artist, Print Shop, Sierra Utilities and other software programs. Stock photography companies will pay you even more when a company uses your picture in software programs because they have to purchase a special license, which means more money in your pocket. So if you have a digital camera and can take good pictures, visit these Stock Photography websites to get an idea of the kind of pictures they need. This is easy money doing something that doesn’t even seem like work.

• Homemade Videos – Another great way to make money from home is to create interesting home made videos. Do you know how to play the piano? If so, create a video showing people who to play. Piano lessons can be expensive and the instructor has to leave when their time is up. With a video your customers can watch and learn any time they want. You can make Homemade Videos on so many different topics such as; recipes, how to build your own computer, how to cut hair, how to train your dog to do tricks, how to lift weights properly, how to use a certain software program and many more topics. I personally know someone who creates videos showing people how to use a certain software program and he makes a lot of money selling the video tutorials. Put your mind to work and think of something you can create.

There are actually thousands of ways to make money at home working online. I’ve only listed five of the ways I make money. I could have listed more but then I would have written a novel instead of an article.

There’s no doubt about it, the best way to make money from home is to work for yourself using your home computer. You’ve spent hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a computer so let it pay for itself by putting it to work for you. Why spend your entire life working for someone else, when you could work from home and be your own boss? Making money from home is the new way to earn a living.

I love money, especially when it comes easy. Let me give you a friendly warning though. The ideas I’ve listed on ways to make money are easy, but they do require a little bit of work on your part. Your success is going to be determined by how much you put into each program. Remember, if you pick something you enjoy, it will not seem like work at all.

To Your Success,
Anna Allen

Anna Allen is author of several articles on various subjects. For more information on different ways to make money online and a place you can go to fine “Honest” reviews go to: http://www.moneymakingresearch.com or visit her blog at: http://wannamakemoneyonline.blogspot.com

Getting Back Your Girlfriend – Do Not Be Fooled, It CAN Be Done!

Hopefully you have not let yourself get too down on losing your girlfriend just yet. If you have, you need to do whatever it is that you can to lift your spirits up and start thinking more positively about your chances of getting back your girlfriend. See, the one thing that will get in your way every single time is…YOU! There are enough things that are going to make it seem hard to get back your girlfriend and you NEED to NOT be one of them.

Don’t be fooled by a lot of the so called advice that is out there on the internet about getting back your girlfriend. Most of it SUCKS big time and will make your girlfriend want to get away from you as quickly as she can. Most of it is written by people just trying to make a sale on their site and they have no clue at all how to get her back.

There ARE some time tested tips that you can get your girlfriend back, and here is the START:

1. Do NOT write her any sappy love letters or anything like that.

Yes, it might sound good for about a minute or so, but come on, are you still in high school? If you want to get your girlfriend back, then you have to MAN UP a little, and writing out a sappy love letter is NOT going to get her to come back. Especially not when she has already broken up with you. The timing is completely wrong, and all you are going to do is make her feel sad, IF, she even bothers to scan it at all.

2. DO get your act together and make your life better.

It’s one of those things that you need to get done whether or not you even get her back. Losing your girlfriend is not at all fun by any means, but neither is losing your self esteem or anything else. You have to make sure that you get your act together and fix anything in your life that might be broken. The best part is, you will start to look more attractive to your ex girlfriend when she sees this. Women LOVE to see a man that seems to be focused and knows where his life is going.

3. Do NOT think that you are going to get her to come back just by apologizing to her.

Guys that think like this are the same ones that end up crying in the corner of some dive bar when a love song comes on the radio. Look, if an apology was all that it was going to take, then you would not be reading this article, anyway. Your ex girlfriend needs more than just some tear jerking apology, she needs to feel ATTRACTION for you.

Want to know how to use a PROVEN PLAN to get your ex girlfriend back and keep her around this time?

 

 

Click Here to Discover a System Designed to Work Using Female Psychology that will Get YOUR Girlfriend to Come BACK!

Copyright

A Guide to Inventory Reduction

This article is also available on our website at PROACTION – Generating Best Practices. It is an excerpt of a paper originally written by George Miller, Founder of PROACTION. It has been modified and updated by Paul Deis, PROACTION CEO.

INTRODUCTION

How many firms think their inventory investment is low enough? What is low enough? INVENTORY is the largest single asset on the balance sheet of many manufacturers and distributors. It is usually the most expensive asset to own and maintain as well, with estimates of carrying costs typically running 25-30 cents or more on the dollar annually. Therefore, any useful suggestions to optimize INVENTORY investment and associated expenses would be most valuable.

The paper addresses how to manage INVENTORY investment to optimum levels, which means a reduction or major redistribution of it in most companies. Optimal INVENTORY levels come down as management makes the operation more efficient by improving processes, reducing lead-time, managing supply and demand better.

One can’t “attack” INVENTORY effectively, but only its underlying causes, which will be discussed. Most INVENTORY “problems” are merely a reflection of management, design, process or operational problems. Current literature on Just-in-Time and World-Class Manufacturing addresses how inventory reduction is a by-product of doing things right the first time.

WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INVENTORY?

Why is INVENTORY “bad”?

INVENTORY is a major capital investment affecting cash flow and profitability. Inventory comprising one-third to one-half of companies’ total assets isn’t unusual. There are significant expenses associated with possessing it. INVENTORY reductions can do more to improve ROA (Return On Assets) in most companies than most other factors. For instance, a 50% reduction in INVENTORY will typically account for a 10-25% improvement in ROA! Certain industries, such as aerospace and defense, widely believe that INVENTORY is a non-issue, because they receive “progress payments” from customers or because they “write-off” job-end variances and leftover “residual” inventories. The facts are that these companies need to watch inventories even more closely but first they need to be made aware that there are INVENTORIES to watch. Just because the government or other customers finance the cost of money for INVENTORY, doesn’t mean that there aren’t many other hidden costs, most of which are hiding in burden and serve to make the company less competitive and profitable.

Excess inventories subject the manufacturer to additional liabilities for things such as obsolescence, rework, storage charges, etc. Most of these ultimately end up “written off” and are applied to “overhead”, but this eventually raises the overhead rate, which increases costs of doing business, which raises prices, which makes companies less competitive. It really doesn’t matter that much (except for tax purposes) whether costs end up as direct, indirect, expensed, burden, or whatever: they all affect profitability, investment and cost of manufacturing.

Carrying Costs

Let’s look at what goes into INVENTORY “cost of ownership”, frequently called the “carrying cost” and expressed in terms of percent cost of INVENTORY valuation per year of ownership. For example, a 25% carrying cost would indicate that it costs about $.25 to own each $1.00 of INVENTORY each year. These costs consist of:

• Cost of money – The cost of capital to the company or, in some cases the “opportunity cost” or return that could be earned on the money by applying it productively elsewhere. The cost of money has ranged anywhere from 6% to 18% in the last 25 years. Obviously, cost of money has a very significant impact on investment strategy.

• Obsolescence – The risk of INVENTORY never being used, or needing rework to make it usable, needs to be factored into the cost of owning INVENTORY. In theory (and practice), the larger the INVENTORY is, and the longer it is held, the more likely engineering changes, customer preferences and technological changes will render that INVENTORY unusable. In the clothing industry, it is not uncommon to see inventories depreciate as much as 90% when styles change. Certain portions of the electronics industry have problems with INVENTORY becoming obsolete very quickly due to technological changes.

• Shrinkage – A portion of INVENTORY becomes unavailable to the owner due to loss, damage, theft or spoilage. The longer INVENTORY is there and the more there is, the more likely this is to happen. Steps to prevent it only raise carrying costs in other areas, such as security, air conditioning, better control systems, recruiting policies, etc.

• Quality Factors – Allowances for yield, attrition, scrap and rework. This is really more of a function of the process than the amount of INVENTORY invested and is more related to throughput, but is usually expressed as part of the aggregate INVENTORY carrying cost.

• Technological or Price Obsolescence – Prices don’t always go up. In fact, in industries such as electronics, prices often plummet due to constantly improving designs, product and process technology improvements. Therefore, it is desirable to minimize inventories in high-risk areas.

• Taxes – There are two dimensions to this: 1) In some areas, a tax is levied on inventories, so the more INVENTORY, the more tax is paid. 2) INVENTORY is regarded as an asset by most accounting and tax rules. Therefore, building large inventories shows “profits” and profits are usually taxed, usually by multiple government entities.

• Insurance – The cost of carrying insurance on INVENTORY needs to be considered, as well as insuring the space, equipment, people and other resources needed to control it.

• Space – Costly storage space sometimes occupies 25-30% of the total facility, when one considers raw material warehouses, stockrooms, work-in-process storage, receiving, shipping, outside warehouses, MRB and residual storage areas. INVENTORY reduction campaigns frequently help companies avoid the need to move to large facilities, or permit them to shut down or cut back existing facilities.

• Manpower – All of this INVENTORY needs people to order, receive inspect, record, move, count, store, retrieve, post it to the ledger, etc. People are the largest or second largest expense (behind material) for most manufacturers.

• Record Keeping Systems – Software, procedures, equipment and paper must be used to stay on top of INVENTORY.

• Material Handling/Storage Equipment – Conveyors, fork lifts, bar code readers, scales, AS/RS, trucks, carts, bins, racks, shelves must all be purchased, leased, maintained and cared for.

• Physical Inventories, Reconciliations – Must be conducted to ensure that inventories are properly accounted for and maintained.

• Transportation – Must be provided to move INVENTORY in and out of the facility, to vendors, within the facility to different workstations and storage areas.

• Energy – Heat, light, humidity control, air conditioning, refrigeration and fuel must be consumed to make all this happen.

WHAT AFFECTS INVENTORY?

One must “know thine enemy” to successfully deal with it. Now that we’ve discussed the significance of INVENTORY, let’s determine why it exists and what makes it go up or down.

INVENTORY is not always evil. It usually exists for a reason, however a reason is not always true justification. INVENTORY is frequently kept as a buffer and masks other problems.

Major Reasons for Inventory

• Net Demand – Demand derived directly from customer requirements or internal demand.

• Pipeline – INVENTORY needed to sustain the process over its cumulative lead-time through all operations and holding points. Also included in the pipeline are paperwork operations, such as billing, which could increase inventory if not done timely enough.

• Quality – Yield, attrition, scrap, rework allowances impacting amount of inventory and time inventory is in process.

• Lot Size – Lot size considerations include vendor minimum order quantities, raw material and manufacturing lot sizes due to setup and other nonrecurring, lot-related cost considerations and run time impact considerations.

• Supply Buffer – Extra INVENTORY carried as a hedge against unreliability of vendor or factory schedules, inaccurate records, unpredictable quality or other fluctuations tending to reduce reliability of providing materials on demand. It is usually expressed in terms of “safety stock” (quantity or periods of supply) or “safety lead time” (bringing it in earlier).

• Demand Buffer – Extra INVENTORY planned due to uncertainty of the true requirement need date or quantity, which may vary due to poor forecasts, transportation problems, or various contingencies. It usually takes the form of larger quantities being put into process, or processes started earlier as a hedge against demand fluctuations. It is usually combined into the total buffer as described above. Another form of demand buffer is building “anticipation” inventory for seasonal fluctuations and other forecasted demand surges.

• Hedge – Inventory acquired for speculative purposes with the exception that prices will rise later, justifying the earlier investment risk.

Other Factors Affecting INVENTORY

The reasons given above are those that apply for a given set of circumstances or basic assumptions about design, processes, etc. The factors below are more basic and can have a more profound long-term effect on INVENTORY:

• Product Design – The number and type of parts, difficulty to manufacture and specifications for materials, reliability designed in and other factors, do more to set basic parameters for INVENTORY than anything else. A product design that minimizes the number of parts, picks easily obtainable materials and components, lends itself to manufacturing with the simplest possible facilities and equipment will minimize INVENTORY costs over the long pull.

• Materials Supply – Specifying quality materials, well suited to the process and application, with easy availability, low prices, reliability of supply and short response time are all big advantages that can facilitate INVENTORY reduction. Having the best sources for key materials or changing existing arrangements can do a lot to help minimize inventories.

• Processes – Good, reliable processes will help reduce INVENTORY, because they will help reduce scrap, rework and attrition, and also provide a more reliable flow of supply, which will help reduce buffer stocks, safety stocks, safety lead time INVENTORY and eliminate much accumulation of INVENTORY on the production floor. Better processes will also serve to reduce many other burden activities, such as inspection, MRB, management intervention, expediting, etc. Better process design, coupled with improved equipment selection and tooling engineering cannot only minimize the amount of set-up and other nonrecurring or lot-related activities to be performed, but speed up the entire process. Reducing set-up not only cuts labor, but also improves facilities/equipment utilization and decreases the amount of time that INVENTORY needs to be invested. This can result in capital investment avoidance, which helps minimize the asset base and operating expenses, which further improves return on assets/investment.

• Facilities Layout/Design – INVENTORY may be increased significantly if this is not done properly. Widely scattered plants, multi-story buildings with inadequate material flow capabilities and processes distributed over many different departments, all increase the amount of part travel, possibility of loss, delays and need for manpower and extra equipment to support the process. Poor utilization of space will also increase the cost per square foot and the number of square feet required to support the process.

• Service Objectives – The required response time and reliability of service to customers has a big impact on INVENTORY costs. For instance, if industry standards allow making to customer specifications from scratch, there may be less need to maintain finished goods inventories. If customers or distributors carry stock, that reduces pressure upon the supplier to maintain inventories and reduce them quickly. Once a competitor attempts to improve service by keeping raw materials, work-in-process or finished goods available, or by making the process quicker and more efficient, it puts pressure on competitors to meet this new standard.

• Outside Processing – Some firms lament the amount of money spent on outside processing charges. This is not a problem unless they are significantly higher than comparable in-house costs. If only a little bit higher, it’s better to leave them outside if the vendors are nearby, reliable and provide good service. The reason for this is that these services are hard to manage, are frequently outside the scope of the business and are better left outside when fluctuations in customer demand occur, since this reduces the amount of money needed to support underutilized capacity.

• Planning/Control Systems – Systems employed to manage supply and demand and control the production process have a large effect on INVENTORY. The policies that management sets, the education/training it provides and the ongoing follow-up to ensure that these points are implemented and data integrity maintained, are decisive.

The systems we refer to are:

• Front End

-Forecasting

-Production Planning

-Master Production Scheduling

-Capacity Requirements Planning

• Engineering

-Bill-of-materials

-Change Control

-Routing/Process

• Material Planning

-Time Phasing Tools

-Requirements Calculations/netting

• Shop Floor Control

• Data Integrity

-Bill-of-material

-MPS

-INVENTORY, PO, RM, WIP, QA, FG

-Process

Cost

• Material Costs – Material cost increases (obviously) raise INVENTORY. Lowest unit cost does not necessarily mean lowest cost of doing business, or even lowest cost of material, for that matter. These can be deceptive, because as material costs go up, turns do not decrease, because they are being measured on a new and higher base. In a standard cost system, “variances” may be expensed and not immediately show up in some inventory systems, such as standard cost.

• Overhead – Burden rates of 300%, 500% or more are not uncommon. Having a high overhead rate is not “bad”, only total costs that are too high are “bad”. Your overhead rate is a reflection of cost distribution and accounting techniques as well. However, if overhead is going up without attendant drops in other areas and if other industry competitors are doing better, then it’s “bad.”

• Setup and Other Nonrecurring Costs – In most companies, these are either part of direct labor or buried in overhead. I broke them out separately here because of their differing characteristics. Many manufacturing people feel that the way to reduce the set-up portion of overall run time is to increase lot sizes. Unfortunately, the attendant increase in INVENTORY and other related expenses sometimes negates setup reductions. Another argument is that long runs increase capacity An interesting ideas, but large lot sizes also take up capacity and confuse priorities. The real answer is to reduce setup times.

• Labor Content – Reduction of direct labor has been one of the few bright spots in American productivity improvements over the years. It has gone down to a much lower percentage than before. It amuses me that some major manufacturers and government regulatory agencies focus so much attention on reducing direct labor content, which is a low as 3-5% in some industries. The area to look at is labor variances, due to down time, quality problems, material shortages, etc., and in indirect labor. In short, reduce the overhead due to other factors increasing labor.

The preceding sections should give you a better idea of the significance of INVENTORY, and what affects it. If you have been reading carefully, you have already seen opportunities for reduction, since knowing the question is frequently half of the answer. The next section will amplify and clarify some of these…

HOW TO REDUCE INVENTORY

Advice To The Boss

Let’s now discuss some specifics for helping to tame the beast. To begin with, let’s first set up a program to do this with little initial out-of-pocket costs, a fast payback and subsequent return on investment!

Your controller will love this.

It sounds almost ridiculously simple, but there is a sequence that one ought to address inventory reduction activities in:

• Don’t bring it in. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Don’t order what you don’t need. For existing commitments, cancel or reschedule where practical.

• If you already have it, ship it. Work on eliminating constraints to getting product shipped. Sell excess inventory at full price/cost, if possible.

• Try to rework or substitute. Attempt to rework, retest inventory, try to substitute it in place of parts that have been specified.

• Salvage it for cash at a reduced rate

• Dump it. If all else fails and it’s really not needed, throw it away, because the tax write-off and lower holding costs alone will make it worthwhile.

Try the specific recommendations contained in the sections following…

Short-Term Activities

Since it is an “established” fact that most managers think “only of short term profits,” let’s cover the stuff we can do right away first. The author doesn’t believe that most top managers really believe this but knows that in order to keep a business going and to keep your job, you do have to show short-term results.

Assign responsibility/accountability for inventory reduction

Not just to the materials people, but production, sales and engineering also. This should probably be a team, with ONE person clearly in charge, who should a vice president, rather than a summer intern.

Get Control of The Checkbook

This is one of the first things that “turnaround artists” always do to rescue a foundering company. Insist on getting justification for all new INVENTORY expenditures – especially “A” items (most expensive ones). Sign all major approvals and checks yourself. Brook neither opposition nor watering down of this until things are back in control, policies are established, being followed and look like they can stay that way. This has an amazing and rapid effect on INVENTORY and has been practiced first-hand by the author and customers. It requires nearly no cash to implement. Consider having the requisitioner show up in person to plead his/her case of why the inventory is needed and explain all the nasty problems.

Use this process to force those responsible to justify what they are doing and why and to think through these policies and their enforcement in a new light – that of investment management. While you are doing this, use it to study the dynamics of INVENTORY planning systems and to decide what INVENTORY investments should be and what problems really are. You should develop a matrix of inventory days coverage targets by commodity by product line by planner. Then cost it out and track actual performance. Be sure to track commitments and planned amounts, or you may be disappointed again fairly soon.

Conduct basic indoctrination of people affecting INVENTORY most dramatically—planners, buyers, production management, sales, customer service- establish some temporary “edicts” and enforce them until more formal policies/procedures can be established/changed later on. Make sure you know what you are doing before you establish these. Beware of mindless “across the board reduction” edicts that could result in hurting service and profits.

Have your people perform a quick “thumbnail” INVENTORY analysis

Start with items currently on order, in process, or being planned. As Al Agosti of IQR says, “first stop the bleeding. Then take away the knife.” It always amazes me that companies will spend a fortune to analyze INVENTORY, which is already there, but ignore huge impending expenditures, which they can do something about before disaster strikes. If your company can’t save a bundle the first month of this methodology, maybe it’s too late already. To do this, perform a quick “ABC” analysis, identifying only the expensive (“A”) items initially. In most companies, these are only 5-15% of the total items and can be leveraged to provide quick benefits in terms of investment management. After this has been done, get together with the management team, do a quick brainstorm and put together a Pareto chart, showing problems in descending order of importance.

Start with a calculation of what is actually needed:

• Go through all the arguments of why people need more, sooner and then get people to agree on how they can avoid doing that.

• Cut new INVENTORY scheduled to come in whenever possible.

• Determine right away what can be cancelled, rescheduled, returned to vendor for credit or sold for salvage. Balance the costs of doing this against the relative benefits.

• Work on getting product shipped and billed to get INVENTORY relief.

• Try to match INVENTORY input closer to ship date (reduce lead times and carrying time)

• Determine if excess/obsolete finished goods can be put on promotion or “fire sale.” Do so if appropriate.

• Lean on customers who have cancelled/rescheduled orders to your detriment. Try to get them to pay for part of these costs, accept the INVENTORY, or use these incidents as levers to improve future terms.

• Look for obvious bottlenecks in the planning and processing of orders such as:

-Amount of lead-time and queue permitted.

-Lot size and cycle times.

-Scheduling assumptions

-Major bottlenecks caused by improper manning, defective or poorly maintained equipment, etc.

-Build-ahead and buffer policies

Set goals for inventory down to the level of managers and planners

Do this “rough cut,” for “A” items first—more detailed analysis comes later. Set targets by planner, buyer, product line or any other meaningful political or production entity that will foster accountability, which you will want to later measure results against and enforce.

Go for the “easy wins” with the best payback first. Don’t fall into “paralysis by analysis.” You can do more in the first few months than you think. It won’t cost much and will provide large net benefits. So far, we have not asked Information Technology to put together any fancy reports or programs, we haven’t hired any new people, no new equipment has been purchased and we haven’t revolutionized the way the business is done. That comes later:

Establish formal problem solving methodology

Use task teams, quality circles, natural work groups, tiger teams or whatever they’re calling them this month and have these groups identify major problems, opportunities and then address the solutions. Our experience has been that almost any prior training in problem-solving approaches and reasonable coaching will greatly enhance results.

Perform “stock location audit”

In many cases, lost inventory holds up shipments and inflates inventory needlessly. Location audits are a quick way to find some of it. Simply go out to the shop and write down only the identity (part number) and location of all storeroom and/or work-in-process and other inventories, then compare to your records. Don’t even bother to count it (that’s what takes the longest). You will probably discover things you had lost or never even knew you had.

Take your “hits” for inventory early

As soon as you have some idea of the magnitude of excess/obsolete inventory, work on getting financial and general management to “write it off”, in order to get the tax benefits, where favorable. There is normally reluctance to write-off because of the adverse “paper” affect on the financial statements and fear of blame. However, it’s the best thing for the company in most cases, except for instances when stock prices, pending loans, etc, may be affected. Be careful, because failure to recognize true inventory worth might be considered misrepresentation in those cases, though. See your lawyer if in doubt.

That depletes my INVENTORY of quick fixes. Now it gets a little harder…

Mid-term Activities

In this phase, more careful planning, analysis, discipline and systems are needed. These programs should start early on and may not bring a lot of results for months or more.

Eliminate Bottlenecks

As an extension of the short-term problem solving activities, work on formally addressing major bottlenecks in areas such as material, capacity/equipment, paperwork/systems, engineering, personnel/training, etc. A good master scheduling approach should be included in these activities. Focus on cycle time reduction.

Inventory Analysis/Target Setting

Joe Barcy of Inventory Performance Systems calls it the “Divide and Conquer” approach. What he meant is that a company has to bring decisions and measurements down to the level of accountability and below (to the person/part/number/cost element level) and also aggregate this information up to meaningful levels for analysis by various levels of management.

First, group INVENTORY items at the part number level into categories by responsible planner and/or buyer and commodity. Do this in descending dollar sequence, preferably by projected usage (historical usage, if that’s all you can find, but it has its disadvantages). If you don’t have the ability to do this by computer, do it by hand for the A items first – look up production plans, sales forecasts and buy cards, then extend quantities by approximate costs. Use purchase history, quotes, accounting department support, or whatever you can get. Getting it done fast and approximately is much more important than carrying it out to four decimal places. Remember: money is being wasted while you delay!

If your current formal systems cannot deliver this type of information, consider using a “4th generation” report writer (they’re calling them “Decision Support Systems” and “Data Warehouses” now and correspondingly inflating the prices), or maybe a system designed specifically for INVENTORY analysis and reduction.

Analyze INVENTORY on the following suggested parameters:

1.ABCD classification (by annual usage value)

2.Turnover/investment performance

3.Highest dollars committed

4.Highest dollars in INVENTORY

5.Most longest period coverage planned/available

6.Items with coverage/commitments greater than policy

Once you have all this data, set targets, measure and control performance.

Data Accuracy Program

Set up a formal, ongoing program to clean up and maintain accurate records for inventory, bill-of-material, routings and planning data. See my article: Inventory Accuracy: How We Did it In 60- Days! (APICS Intl Conf. Proceedings 1989).

Policies/Procedures

Write/update policies and procedures to guide your operation. Conduct an ongoing education and training program to ensure that people know what to do and how to do it. Sometimes this is regarded as a “soft” project with indeterminate payback. Our experience and observations have shown us that a well founded and run program to do this is an excellent investment in a company’s future. Even simple handwritten ones may be a big improvement, especially if you have none, or worse yet, they are so bad that no one will use them.

How to Optimize inventory Levels

If you’re expecting a neat formula here to plug in your numbers, you’re sadly mistaken. It doesn’t exist and if someone tells you it does, it probably doesn’t work. Here are a few ideas that have worked for me:

• Estimate target days coverage using the team’s best judgment for each commodity/product line. Obviously there will be some exception items.

• The “one less” approach: Try reducing inventories in doubtful areas a little bit at a time. Pull back when you get in trouble or when you spot a constraint. Continue after you have relieved the constraint(s) some.

• The lead time/cost build up chart: Construct a graph per product showing the time phased cost buildup in cost of goods sold amount. Have the team meet to see where lead times, lot sizes, attrition factors and buffers can be reduced.

• Modeling tools, Advanced Planning Systems (APS), have some potential for optimizing certain situations, but they have been a bit oversold and are not easy to set up and maintain.

Long-Term Activities

Making really major changes takes much longer. While I will enumerate some recommended programs you should probably embark upon, a thorough discussion is beyond the scope of this paper and falls under such categories as World Class Manufacturing, Just-In-Time, Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Quality Function Deployment, Manufacturing Resource Planning, ERP, Total Quality Management and other high-sounding names. By the way “long-term” doesn’t mean you wait a long time to get these started, but that is takes a long time to get results…and time’s a wastin’!

Key Points

To summarize some important points for your future reference:

• Inventory reduction is one of the cheapest ways to improve profits

• Get control of the “checkbook”!

• Use Pareto’s 80-20% principle to leverage your time and investment – choose your battles – biggest bang for the buck.

• Once of prevention = pound of cure

• Set targets – “divide and conquer”!

• Force accountability- Set up a responsible team- hold it accountable. Include in performance appraisals, incentives

• Question assumptions – eliminate waste

• Doing business right will automatically reduce excess inventory in most cases, but still needs monitoring and control

George J. Miller, CFPIM, is Founder of PROACTION. Prior to selling the company to Paul Deis, George had worked with dozens of companies in assignments involving productivity, quality and service improvement, business systems, change management, acquisitions, divestitures, expert witness testimony, and others. Prior to founding PROACTION in 1986, he was Vice President of Marketing for Western Data Systems; Director of Planning and Development and Assistant Director?Operations for Purolator Technologies (PTI); Consultant for Booz-Allen & Hamilton, and Manufacturing Systems Manager for Becton-Dickinson.

Paul Deis, CFPIM, is CEO, PROACTION. He brings over 25 years of consulting and senior executive experience to his work, including detailed work with nearly 60 companies. Prior to acquiring PROACTION, Paul’s experience includes running a small ERP software company, leading other consulting businesses, prior work with PROACTION, Manager at Deloitte & Touche, VP Manufacturing at Raypak, Inc., where he was very successful with an early Lean management initiative, and dozens of projects in the areas of enterprise software, operations management, crisis resolutions, in a wide variety of industries, business types, and scales. Our website: PROACTION – Generating Best Practices

Home Staging Tips Cleaning Your Floor

Last month I gave you multiple tips on getting your own properties spotless clean as well as those of your clients. We get used to living in our own filth or we just don’t look at it as a priority. Regardless of which it is for you or your clients, everyone will notice a dirty house as much as they notice a clean house, no matter their personal standards.

So, this month, as promised, I will finish up the “clean tips.” Obviously, I could go on and on in regards to cleaning tips, I am after all, my father’s daughter. The man that ran service stations his whole life that were cleaner than palaces where your baby could crawl on the floor of the garage! But, in the interest of being able to discuss other helpful tips next month, let’s wrap up the cleaning tips this month.

I want to discuss floors in this issue. So let’s start with the look, feel, condition and cleanliness of your carpet.

If it smells and you have had it professionally cleaned twice to eliminate the odor, you may need to remove the carpet and replace the pad. But, let’s try a few old remedies first. Use air absorbing products such as baking soda and charcoal in abundance for the duration of your rehab and when you are not showing the house.

You can leave multiple open containers of baking soda and tin dishes of charcoal briquettes out in the open, all over the house. Both of these products absorb order without leaving a cover up odor in their path. They look terrible, so you have to make sure they are out of view when showing the house, or when people are peaking in the windows.

I also recommend that you use baking soda in all of your appliances and cabinets and the dishes of briquettes in all of the closets. You should put them all away before showing a house.

If you still can’t get out the smell, there are a variety of other products that people use, choose your favorite as I think they all work about the same. I would also recommend that you work with a carpet cleaner that specializes in smells. Yep, there are some that do and some that don’t so get a referral.

Okay, enough of the smells. Your carpets, when cleaned, will often bring other spots to the surface and force a dark line of gunk to the outside edges near the baseboards. Be prepared in advance for this and ask the cleaning crew prior to their first cleaning, what sort of guarantees they have for this type of situation, should it arise. You need a good crew that has the correct tools to lift all the stains while they are there and run next to the baseboards, or at least one that understands the process well enough to offer a free second visit.

Next, be prepared to let these rugs dry. Don’t rush them or let people walk on them while they are wet. If this happens, the wet rug will actually attract more dirt than the dry one and all of your efforts will have been in vain.

Finally, once the rugs are completely dry, you will need to vacuum them. Do this in both directions to really get the fibers to lift. The slower that you can vacuum, the better the carpet will look when you are finished. By following this process carefully, your carpets will look refreshed, soft and clean. Just what the new buyer ordered.

Obviously, linoleum can be cleaned with soap and water, but with hard wood floors, I prefer Murphy’s. There are many hardwood floor cleaners, but this one continually makes the floor look clean without leaving streaks.

Make sure you are using warm water, not hot and that you add the solution to the water. I also prefer a soft head mop instead of a sponge mop as you are able to clean in circles versus a straight line, eliminating the chances of missing a strip or leaving a streak.

Once again, leave plenty of time for the floor to dry before you allow anyone to walk on it so you don’t have “foot prints” across your nice clean floor.

The cleaner each aspect of your home, the faster and more profitable your sale.

Karen Schaefer is an Investor, Writer,Speaker and Property Designer. She is the founder of Simple Appeal, Inc., the Premier Nationwide Staging and Design Company as well as APSD, The Association of Property Scene Designers.She is known nationwide as the Expert on selling properties in