Consultancy executive Ghislain Samou-Nguewo founded a business in 2007 that has grown into a leader in Africa’s construction and subcontracting space. Ghislain Samou-Nguewo turns around the fortunes of struggling companies through aggressive measures, including cutting costs and shortening product delivery times.
Reducing product delivery times improves productivity, efficiency, and ultimately, the bottom line. Longer product delivery times, on the other hand, complicate manufacturing. They also increase stock-out costs since waiting for new products costs time and money. Companies can use many inventory management systems to streamline product delivery. One of them is just-in-time (JIT) inventory management.
With JIT, products are ordered on an as-needed basis. Rather than ordering products way before they are needed or in larger quantities than necessary to cover unexpected demand, companies order products when they are needed in the exact quantity that is required. The aim of this inventory management system is to reduce high inventory costs associated with storing, managing, and maintaining excess inventory. JIT also prevents unnecessary losses when excess product with a short shelf life goes bad or when excess inventory is sold off at throw-away prices.
It takes time to perfect JIT. Demand has to be forecast accurately, the supply chain must operate efficiently, and manufacturing must be fault-free. A hiccup along the way will be costly. In fact, companies that use the system, such as Toyota, took years to perfect it, but once they did, it significantly improved their efficiency and overall margins.
