Practical Perspectives….with Bill Kuipers

Q: I have a question about slotting. Is buying a software package necessarily the answer?

A. The clients I see doing the best job on slotting are simply using spreadsheets or basic reports from their own system. Focus and discipline are far more important than what software you use. The fanciest system in the world isn't going to help at all if you don't have dedicated staff reviewing and executing slot assignments on a constant basis. All you really need to get started is a report that shows you what locations have a capacity lower than X days’ demand for that SKU. It can be done on Excel.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t look into slotting software, but it's even more important to first assign someone to it who will really dedicate himself to it and have enough resources to keep up with it. I am not recommending that you make that many changes--just the essential ones where the top items will have to be constantly replenished.

Like everything else in life, execution is more important than anything else.

Have a question for Bill Kuipers, president of Haskell, NJ-based operational consultancy Spaide, Kuipers & Co. (www.spaidekuipers.com)? If so, send it to mark.delfranco@penton.com.