My Miata will never see the road again....

....for virtually every time I try to order a part it is out of stock.

Damn economy.

T

You could have that backwards. A big spike in orders in the spring can usually lead to stock problems mid-summer as everyone scrambles to keep up. Koni's spring sale was also more productive than they expected, as they've been struggling to keep up with demand since March. There are long lead times on a lot of car parts.

I should have added a smiley.

My personal experience is that even this spring parts were out of stock and I was left wondering about exactly what you say, "why are they not ready for the spring rush?"

I blame the desire for limited capital tied up in inventory and the idealized idea of the 'Just in Time' inventory system.

An aside...I recently tried to buy a very custom specialized part. I found out they sold the last one the night before, and in the next week or so they would see about ordering stock for the next run. Why would you wait till you sold the last one in a run of 20-25 to order more material when the turnaround time is months?

I say this as a manager/fabricator at a small custom shop.

I would just like to drive the car, that's all

T

Let me guess... you're trying to order a clutch/flywheel/set of wheels from 949?

Swank Force One wrote: Let me guess... you're trying to order a clutch/flywheel/set of wheels from 949?

Hey now I was trying to be careful to not use any names...

...and actually no, that's not it.

Thanks for the heads up though

Tralfaz wrote: Iidealized idea of the 'Just in Time' inventory system. only works well in business school

still the greatest hoax ever perpetuated on American manufacturing

Well, since we're being so very non-specific...

We don't try to run a JIT setup. We know how long it takes our various suppliers to deliver, and our order times are based on that. If we have a widget that sells 30 per year and takes six months to replenish, the order for new ones goes in when there are 15-18 of them on the shelf.

But the problem is those small volumes. If there's a forum discussion and 7 people decide they want one right away, there's three months of supply sucked up. Or the manufacturer has a machine problem/goes on vacation/fires the main guy/can't get material and all of a sudden we have a problem.

Shock manufacturers in particular are having trouble right now. They've got a really, really long supply chain.

wbjones wrote:

Tralfaz wrote: Iidealized idea of the 'Just in Time' inventory system. only works well in business school

still the greatest hoax ever perpetuated on American manufacturing

I'very been dealing with JIT for the last 20 years, give or take a couple.

98% of the time, it works very well. The other 2% can berkeley things up wicked-bad.

Keith Tanner wrote: Koni's spring sale was also more productive than they expected, as they've been struggling to keep up with demand since March.

I read that and about jumped out of my chair. Koni makes springs!?!

I gotta start drinking more coffee before I GRM in the mornings...

I wonder sometimes what the untended costs of these practices are. I have cancelled large orders in the past because a vendor can't supply the $5 widget that is part of the package,or have sought out another supplier the second time around because of the frustration with preferred vendor 'A' again because of the widget.

Seriously this isn't a dig at anyone in particular, and I imagine it is a largely string of my bad luck, but with the exception of the items I bought from the dealer almost every part I have ordered for this restoration in the last year+ has been delayed in some fashion (Not all certainly, but when you click submit and you basically get a sense of forboding because you know the email is coming saying "um yeah,just one little thing..." it's discouraging)

I have gone thru the same thing with suppliers at work and eventually get fed up. That's why I now have a lathe,mill,plasma,powder,tig (all services I would hire) because it is the only guarantee of getting the job done.

T

The other day I went to our local masonry supply house to pick up a cube of block for my own house, but in our badged work truck (Our company does about 25 million a year). It was 3:54 pm. They close at 4. I wasn't allowed in because they had already shut down the computers.

I mean seriously.