Actual Start Date

TermiKnowledge - Supply Chain, Procurement and Inventory Terminologies
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CIOP online sessions are conducted in a well-organized manner. The online sessions are conducted on Saturdays, between 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM (Indian Standard Time). There will be two breaks during the session. First break at 8:00 PM for 15 minutes and the second break at 9:00 PM for 10 minutes. The participants will join the program through the link sent to them well in advance and they get reminder notifications. First reminder a day before the session and the second reminder one-hour before the session. The participants will be able to see the presentation and the writings of the faculty at the same time. The faculty delivers the program through a smart board and the participants will be able to access both the presentation used by the faculty and his notes at the ends of the session through Fhyzics’ Learning Management System (LMS).

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When vendors and manufacturers to enter into a purchase agreement or contract, they typically provide production numbers and start dates for the particular month or sometimes the year. This number is called the absolute start date. For example, if a new customer places a July order with your company, your inventory manager will enter this number in your computer system as the absolute start date. 

The next time you receive this order, you will know exactly how much inventory your company has in stock, when it was last stocked, and what quantity of inventory is needed to fulfill the order. This information is critical to the smooth performance of your business. But what if there is a problem?

In case the actual start date and forecast error are used instead of the agreed on date, your inventory is not properly recorded or your company may be instructed to make additional deliveries that exceed your current order requirements. Also, if your actual start date is different from your forecast error, the difference between the two will cause your order to fall within the acceptable range of the forecasted inventory levels and sales. For example, if your manufacturing department's forecast is for thousands of units produced in a month, and you are instructed by your vendor to produce only 100 units, your vendor might instruct you to produce extra shipments of products above the required level to meet the demand. This will lead to the production numbers exceeding the tolerable level and will result in a safety stock issue.

To remedy these potential problems associated with your actual start date versus your forecast error, you need to be able to reconcile your inventory management data with your vendor's orders. To do this, you should perform a manual re-balancing of your order inventory to take account of any potential deviations from your original forecast. You can also use software provided by your inventory management provider to perform this analysis automatically. However, if you cannot perform this analysis manually, you need to be able to match your forecasted inventory levels to the actuals so that you can effectively manage your inventory management system.

Certified Inventory Optimization Professional 

CIOP is an end-to-end supply chain certification that contains 30 modules such as Introduction to Supply Chain Management, All About Inventory, Production Planning System, Strategic Business Planning, Sales & Operations Planning, Master Scheduling, Material Requirements Planning, Demand Management, Capacity Management, Forecasting, Production Activity Control, Procurement, Order Quantities, Independent Demand Ordering Systems, Warehouse Management, Transportation Management, Supplier Relationship Management (SRM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Introduction to Quality, Introduction to Packaging, Introduction to Process, Lean, Six Sigma, Total Quality Management, Theory of Constraints, Supply Chain Technologies, Supply Chain Techniques, Industry 4.0, International Standards and Supply Chain Risk, Safety and Security. 

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CIOP Knowledge Series

One-Minute Supply Chain Facts

The most recent video is available here. To access the past videos in the One-Minute Supply Chain Facts Series, please click the playlist icon located on the Top-Right of the video.

 

 

 

 

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