Stock Systems

[Crazyface]

Reading about AGs on another thread, I thought we could have a dedicated one. I've spent most of my working life involved with stock and various systems. Most are not worth a damn. They are usually a bit of software that does about 80% if what is needed, then the rest is bodged by the staff having to manipulate it to their requirements. I am currently at Tesco. Theirs is a 1980s, I kid you not, but if software. Frantic tapping of tab button to get to but you need to view. They do not check the stock when it arrives in store. This means any discrepancy can go unnoticed for weeks. Again, I kid you not. The worst I had to deal with, was a distribution system that had been purchased for a third party maintenance outfit I had joined. Brand new out of the box. 60k invested in the wrong software and I had to make it work.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I worked, many years ago, for a manufacturing company that produced about 60 pallets of stock per day, 7 days a week. They changed to a super swanky new stock system, tied in with a freight company. The problem was, rubbish in, rubbish out, the barcoding went wrong early doors. People were putting pallets in places according to the barcoding and ignoring the product on the pallet. The warehouse was filled incorrectly and trying to undo that was a disaster, especially as every day 60 new pallets turned up.

Add to this, the monkeys in the warehouse were shipping out according to the barcodes, not based on the product, so massive amounts of the wrong stock went to customers. As many were running a just in time system........... . Total carnage.

It took huge amounts of money to rectify, production was stopped repeatedly to simply stop the flow of product coming in and piling up, they lost so many customers. Horrible time, so relieved to leave.

Always remember, rubbish in, rubbish out.......

 

[BiMGuy]

It doesn’t matter how good a system is. The second a human has to interact with it, some idiot will break it.

 

[GreiginFife]

It doesn’t matter how good a system is. The second a human has to interact with it, some idiot will break it.

Second part of that rule is, no matter how good the instruction, someone will automatically think they know better and break it.

 

[BiMGuy]

Second part of that rule is, no matter how good the instruction, someone will automatically think they know better and break it.

Welcome to my working world.

 

[GreiginFife]

Welcome to my working world.

Yep, and mine. Last contract was to deliver a full scale automation for one of the large banks. First operational instruction was "do not input any data until after the system has run and a result is provided (as this would determine the sub system that data would need to be input). First day, system goes down. Investigation shows two people inputting data before system runs. I think it's belligerence in some cases.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Scale kills the job sadly. I have a mfr company and stock is important. It's done manually though, partly by eye. We do a monthly stock check but we are not barcode driven. When I see an item getting low, I order more etc. You can't do that as you get bigger, you need to be more computerised and technical. That's when the problems arise, see #3 & 4.

I've worked with many a supplier who has deteriorated the larger they get and the more computerised they get. Not all, too much of a generalisation, but it absolutely does happen too often. The panacea promised is a mirage.

 

[BiMGuy]

Yep, and mine. Last contract was to deliver a full scale automation for one of the large banks. First operational instruction was "do not input any data until after the system has run and a result is provided (as this would determine the sub system that data would need to be input). First day, system goes down. Investigation shows two people inputting data before system runs. I think it's belligerence in some cases.

I am absolutely convinced some people do things they are told not to on purpose.

 

[GreiginFife]

I am absolutely convinced some people do things they are told not to on purpose.

100%. As if by magic, I've just had an email from someone in my current client to say that "the crap system we implemented has broken again and kicked them out" after a release overnight that told them explicitly not to log in until 1100 when patching completes.

 

[Neilds]

I am absolutely convinced some people do things they are told not to on purpose.

Agree, but proper testing would (should?) have identified this as a problem and measures should have been put in place to stop people entering data too early

 

[BiMGuy]

Agree, but proper testing would (should?) have identified this as a problem and measures should have been put in place to stop people entering data too early

It’s not entering data too early that is my problem. It’s getting people to enter data or use the systems as they should.

 

[GreiginFife]

Agree, but proper testing would (should?) have identified this as a problem and measures should have been put in place to stop people entering data too early

Because of the RPA suite that the client insisted on using, controls were limited to messaging asking users not to input data until the RPA client had completed. Users ignored this as they "know what they are doing".

But this actually re-enforces the point BiMGuy and I made, if people would just do as they are asked/instructed, control measures wouldn't be needed. We need controls because of poor behaviours.

 

[Alan Clifford]

It doesn’t matter how good a system is. The second a human has to interact with it, some idiot will break it.

Buy 3 bottles of wine in a supermarket that look the same but aren't. Cashier scans one and presses a key, presumably a '3' button. It must play havoc with the stock system. I will tell them if the most expensive was the one scanned.

 

[Crazyface]

One of the best things I get on a regular basis is finding stock for a customer on the shelf where it is supposed to be but then telling them (and showing them on my handheld stock device) we haven't any in stock. It's life duplicating a joke that I saw (and have) in a newspaper. Makes me smile every time it happens. Alternatively, customers finding stock on the shelf and asking how much the item is, and me telling them that I have no idea as we don't have any. LOL

 

[Neilds]

One of the best things I get on a regular basis is finding stock for a customer on the shelf where it is supposed to be but then telling them (and showing them on my handheld stock device) we haven't any in stock. It's life duplicating a joke that I saw (and have) in a newspaper. Makes me smile every time it happens. Alternatively, customers finding stock on the shelf and asking how much the item is, and me telling them that I have no idea as we don't have any. LOL

Are you a Supplier in the RAF by any chance? They would always say they didn’t have something as they were usually too lazy to go and look

 

[Crazyface]

Are you a Supplier in the RAF by any chance? They would always say they didn’t have something as they were usually too lazy to go and look

I read a story about Currys. Bloke goes in asks for certain item. We no stock was the reply. So he stood at the counter got his phone out, checked stock of said item online at the stores he was in, and ordered it. Then watched the lazy assistant go and get for him. Brilliant

 

[GreiginFife]

I read a story about Currys. Bloke goes in asks for certain item. We no stock was the reply. So he stood at the counter got his phone out, checked stock of said item online at the stores he was in, and ordered it. Then watched the lazy assistant go and get for him. Brilliant

Nobody beats B&Q for this. My mate needed 30 deck boards and went to the local store that showed 144 in stock on the website. Got there, couldn't find them so we found someone and asked. "If they aren't there we don't have any" was the reply. Showed him the stock online... "well yeah, but they're out in the stock area, not IN stock yet..."

Totally cracked me up that he couldn't even see the issue.

 

[Junior]

Three letters that send a shiver down my spine when I hear a supplier mentioned them…….. S.A.P