Inventory by Space

[Mike K]

It is no secret we have an inventory problem:

On the one hand a gross excess of certain parts, on the other hand little or none of other parts. One possible solution that takes a bit of work to implement, but after which it takes care of itself is 'inventory by space.' This is done by deciding how many of part 'X' you need, determining where those are kept and how much space they take, and then clearly delimiting that space.

For example,

• We decide we need to have 10 700 cc wheels on hand, 5 at the very least.
  
• We measure and find this takes up 1.5 m of wheel storage space.
  
• Using paint/signage/tape 1,5 m of wheel storage space is marked as 700 cc wheels;
  
• half of that space is marked as "DO NOT SELL"
  
• no other wheels or parts are put in that space, ever, for any reason, ever;
  
• when it is full we high grade and dispose of the excess;
  
• when it is 1/2 empty (5 wheels) we do not sell any more until it fills up again
  
• when it is totally empty we know, for certain, that we need to get more somehow;
  

This process is done for every part at an appropriate level. By that I mean it is (for example) not useful to us to have 50 wheels in the shop if they are all 12"; we need a selection of the various sizes that we use. As such wheels need to  be sorted by size. For Adult bikes it may even be worth having high end vs low. For other parts (eg kickstands) a crude sort by L M S size is probably as refined as it needs to get.

Once done all it takes is a glance to see what we have and what we need. No searching, no guessing, no inventory sheets with tracking #s, and no more throwing up hands in despair.

Yes, this will result in some "empty space", but I think overall it will result in more space when we cull all the excess parts that we do not need and will never use.

[RayB]

Ray: I moved you post to HERE since it was really about disposing of excess parts rather than the "Inventory by Space" issue. Would still like to know what you think of that idea.
Mike