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A few posts I read this morning led me to start a dialogue on this subject.
Background:
https://www.mindtheproduct.com/2017/07/enter-matrix-lean-prioritisation/If you have worked in production or manufacturing, you have likely seen a version of this before. I’ve used these type of charts to help identify “low hanging fruit” when prioritizing process improvements.
I mentally use this tool when sourcing all the time.Why do I bring this up? Two reasons: Large items and low dollar items.
It is foolish to just out of hand disregard either of these potential inventory items.The only time they should be discarded is when they both fall in the lower right, low value/high effort quadrant. Identify these items and avoid like the plague, no matter how interesting they seem.
Valuable large items would fall in the upper right quadrant, and you would prioritize them further with other factors so they can fit your time and storage limits.
*How long will it possibly take to sell?
*Do I have space I can dedicate for that much time?
*Just how difficult will the shipping be?
*Is there a high risk of return?All of these questions will determine when and if you buy a large item. The MOST IMPORTANT aspect of large items – List it immediately once the decision is made to sell it. I need to follow this advice more myself…
Low value items can be the gift that keep on giving – the “pipelines” if you will. Low value low effort is the lower left quadrant – these are the items that you list when sourcing is not as fruitful as you would like – rainy day listing. Further breakdown of Low effort can mean they are easy to list, are a quantity item, or are incredibly quick/easy to ship.
Prioritizing this column questions to ask are:
*Can I list as quantity?
*Can I use templates to quickly list a bunch?
*How quickly will I sell the items?
*Do I have a personal interest in the items?
*How much space do they take up?Low dollar items can add up in a hurry. Take for instance, I parted out a board game in December. There are a lot of valuable parts to this game, but I was missing 2 pieces from it being complete – one of the pieces really bugged me that it was missing. I could have made $50-100 selling as-is complete. Instead I broke it down and listed it as 28 individual listings ranging from $10-40, most being closer to $10 end. I also knew these parts would sell fairly quickly.
In one month I have sold 10 of the listings for $150. I still have 18 listings out there so I’ll make over $400 on these low dollar sales. Shipping is quick and easy – all 1st class pouches or small boxes. I spent about 3 hours making all the listings since I created a streamlined process to keep me on task. My profit per hour will be great!.
So in closing, I hope some of you that weren’t familiar with this tool will be able to apply this lean skill to your business to improve processes, save time, and make more money.
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Then you see me with a straw hat and overalls sitting on an old log saying “Just list it and forget it”. Money is just a concept.
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Jay if I ever want to see a person’s head full on explode Scanners style, I’ll invite a Six Sigma Black belt over to your place for you to show off your inventory system.
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YES!!!!!! Made my Friday thinking of one particular black belt I worked with in the past’s head blowing up. He drove a beat-up early 80’s Monte Carlo, that was converted to propane. If he wasn’t in six-sigma speak, he would be stating bible passages in Spanish and then explain the meaning in English. He spent his vacations in central America on bible missions that would end up with him married to a girl (when I say girl, they were always young) that would divorce him immediately when they qualified for citizenship. He did that at least 3 times. He would slyly steal 1 Keurig coffee cup from the board room after every meeting, and when he was let go, his office had a 4 tier metal filing cabinet full of them. I went out bowling with him once, he had a Miller Lite, and was wasted after half a bottle.
That is my best experience with a black belt.
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When you start using this process, make sure you have some green belts and at least one black belt around to help with the DMAIC, SIPOCS, and over-analyze the data with at least 50 charts someone pulled out of Minitab. I want to see at least one RACI and some Paretto charts on why you choose to tackle the low hanging fruit. Remember, Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result folks! I expect a PowerPoint deck on which item you are going to list first by tomorrow at 8:30am.
Sorry…just having Six Sigma / “corporate speak” flashbacks!
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DAMN YOU!!!
I’ve spent the last couple years trying to forget all those terms. Lol!
Still, the fundamentals of the process are sound and some of the tools are useful as long as they are applied with a HEAPING shovel full of common sense. I found the common sense to be totally lacking when it came to most Black Belts I interacted with.
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