I wrote some code to manage kits in a warehouse. Like, a customer would order a kit that required A, B, and C. Then the picker would get sent to those three locations and put it all in a box and onto the conveyor belt for shipping.
The problem was the warehouse owner wanted partial kitting. So if the warehouse only had (in our example) A and B, the code would send the picker to put A and B into a box, then direct him to drop it off in a special partial kit area. When C was back in stock, the system would have the workers fill out the partial kits and ship them. This way if a kit required a dozen items and you were just waiting for one to arrive, you could get most of the work done beforehand.
The problem was now A and B are in boxes and not in "inventory". So when someone orders a kit that contains A, B, and D the A and B bins are empty (as all items A and B are already part of a kit and thus not available) and the code would direct him to put D in a box and put it in the partial kit area. Eventually the D bin is empty, so when an order comes for a kit that requires D and E, we get another flood of partial kits, all going to the same location (which was just a square painted on the warehouse floor).
Anyway, long story short, if the right few items were out of stock and the right orders came in the right sequence, nearly the entire inventory of the warehouse ended up in a giant pile of boxes that was too large for the workers to sort through even when the needed items arrived.
Everything was humming along just peachy for weeks and then BAM! Red faces all around. It took days for them to put all the inventory back into the proper bins and fix all the data, and that probably cost into seven figures, all told.
In my defense, I wasn't the last one to touch that module.
what was the best solution for them? out of stock creates work backorder & potential log jam req. overtime and temp workers, but avoids the out-of-stock false positive. in the end, more happy kit owners.
The problem was the warehouse owner wanted partial kitting. So if the warehouse only had (in our example) A and B, the code would send the picker to put A and B into a box, then direct him to drop it off in a special partial kit area. When C was back in stock, the system would have the workers fill out the partial kits and ship them. This way if a kit required a dozen items and you were just waiting for one to arrive, you could get most of the work done beforehand.
The problem was now A and B are in boxes and not in "inventory". So when someone orders a kit that contains A, B, and D the A and B bins are empty (as all items A and B are already part of a kit and thus not available) and the code would direct him to put D in a box and put it in the partial kit area. Eventually the D bin is empty, so when an order comes for a kit that requires D and E, we get another flood of partial kits, all going to the same location (which was just a square painted on the warehouse floor).
Anyway, long story short, if the right few items were out of stock and the right orders came in the right sequence, nearly the entire inventory of the warehouse ended up in a giant pile of boxes that was too large for the workers to sort through even when the needed items arrived.
Everything was humming along just peachy for weeks and then BAM! Red faces all around. It took days for them to put all the inventory back into the proper bins and fix all the data, and that probably cost into seven figures, all told.
In my defense, I wasn't the last one to touch that module.