Safety stock is used to help meet or mitigate the risks associated with stockouts.  Organizations often hold excessive inventory as a result of safety stock which in the most general sense is held to protect against uncertainties in supply and demand.  Safety stock is sometimes referred to as fluctuation inventory.  

  Cycle stock is the average amount of inventory a business needs to meet customer demand.  The stock will generally deplete gradually as a business or organization receives orders from customers and replenish according to a cycle as suppliers provide the necessary orders. 

  The term decoupling is defined by dictionary.com as:  to cause to become separated, disconnected, or divergent; uncouple.  It also defines decoupling as: to separate or diverge from an existing connection; uncouple.  When we apply this definition to the concept of inventory it becomes much easier to understand decoupling.  The Apics dictionary 14'th edition defines decoupling as "creating independence between supply and use of material."

  When you buff a car you place a thin layer of wax on the paint of the car.  This glossy wax helps protect the car's paint and body against elements like wind, weather and changes in environmental conditions.  Similarly buffer inventory is meant to help keep productions lines steady when changes in demand occur.  Some common examples of buffer inventory are:

1. Raw materials
2. Semi finished goods
3. backlogs strategically held in different centers.

Reference: Apics Dictionary 14'th Edition

  In both lean and six sigma it is important to understand all aspects of waste, including inventory.  One form of inventory is anticipation inventory.  Anticipation inventory is built according to "anticipated" or some future demand.  It is additional inventory that is created above and beyond the actual demand of customers according to forecasts, projections or trends.  Some examples of anticipation inventory might be:

1. Promotions
2. Vacations
3. Shutdowns
4. Strike

​Reference: Apics Dictionary 14'th edition.

  Total quality management (TQM) consists of organization-wide efforts to install and make permanent a climate in which an organization continuously improves its ability to deliver high-quality products and services to customers. While there is no widely agreed-upon approach, TQM efforts typically draw heavily on the previously developed tools and techniques of quality control.

Reference: Wikipedia - Total Quality Management

  The 8'th form of waste was identified and added to the other 7 forms of waste by Dr. Jim Womack in the book Lean Thinking.  It is the underutilization of skills.  Lean Strategies International LLC also recognizes that like people we sometimes do not use our machines, software and systems full capabilities either and this is also waste.

  Vendor Managed Inventory programs are a powerful way to leverage an organization's strengths and focus on your core competencies.  Vendor Managed Inventory places the responsibility of selected services and or items on a chosen supplier.  In most cases the supplier will handle all agreed upon aspects, Which would include:

1. Tracking Inventory
2. Ordering Inventory
3. Logistics
4. etc.

   **Discussion Opportunities: Answer in comments below.

•  What benefits do you think a company would gain by pursuing vendor managed inventory?
•  What risks might a company take by using a vendor managed inventory system?

  The scatter diagram graphs pairs of numerical data, with one variable on each axis, to look for a relationship between them. If the variables are correlated, the points will fall along a line or curve. The better the correlation, the tighter the points will hug the line.

Reference: ASQ - Scatter Diagram

  Quality Control is a system of verification and maintenance that is used to meet a desired level of control/quality in an existing product, service or process.  Optimum control is often achieved through:

1. Detailed planning
2. Proper use of equipment, tools, materials and resources.
3. Continued inspection.
4. Integrity.
5. Corrective action as needed.

Discussion Opportunity (Comment below please)

• Why do you feel quality control is important to an organization?
• What are some common trends in quality control today?