TOC in Distribution
Eight lessons on keeping the right stock in the right place without guessing the future: what distribution really is, why stock is needed, the conflict behind too much and too little, and the five elements of TOC replenishment, ending with a game where you run a central warehouse and four distributors.
- 8 lessons, about 110 minutes in all
- Free, no sign-up. Your progress is saved in this browser
- Certificate of completion when you pass all eight quizzes
- 1 What is distribution?Not transport, not warehouses, not distributors. Distribution is the decisions and actions that put inventory where it will be bought. And a sale isn’t a sale until a consumer buys. 10 min
- 2 Make to order or make to stock?Why not simply take orders, make and deliver? Two times decide whether a business can work to order or must hold stock, and it isn’t the industry, the price or the product. 12 min
- 3 The distribution problemStock-outs and excess stock of the same product, at the same time. Why it happens, the conflict every supply chain manager is caught in, and what it costs. 14 min
- 4 From push to pullBetter forecasting won’t end the swings. A stock buffer that absorbs uncertainty, refilled with exactly what was sold, will. 12 min
- 5 Sizing the bufferFour factors decide how much stock a location needs. Only one of them is really in your control, and it changes the other three. 12 min
- 6 Cutting replenishment timeMost of replenishment time is batching, not work. Hold stock at the source, order daily and dispatch often, and the time, and the stock, fall away. 15 min
- 7 Buffer management and rationingOne colour per product per location decides what ships first, a daily report makes it routine, and a simple rule shares out scarce stock without leaving anyone stranded. 15 min
- 8 Adjusting to changeWhen demand itself moves, buffers must follow: raise them when they stay red, lower them when they stay green, and build them up ahead of known seasons. Then run the whole solution yourself. 20 min
- ✓Your certificateUnlocks when all eight quizzes are passed.
This course is built from the distribution and replenishment sessions I teach. It pairs well with TOC in Operations, which covers the plant that feeds the supply chain.