Forget About Messy Tracking of Parts Inventory

I wasn’t been able to work in a manufacturing environment but I have a little bit of idea how it is through my Tony. He worked in a Dry Cell Manufacturing firm which have equipments that run on 2 shifts/day, 6 days a week and sometimes more during the peak season. My hubby was working there as a Maintenance Supervisor and he relates that there are more than thousands of spare parts to be inventoried. This is needed for emergency downtimes and for daily and weekly maintenance.

They have this Small Value (SV) stores which stocks all parts of the different power equipments. It’s actually a misleading name to call their stock room since the value of the items there are irrelevant. They have small items there which costs up to even several hundred thousands. But anyway that’s how they call it SV stores.

When there are parts to be replaced, one need to remove it sometimes and bring it to the SV stores as a sample. Due to the numerous parts it takes time for the stores keeper to find it. It’s somehow difficult to track parts of various machines without the aid of a computer. You need to be familiar with all the parts and that means working there for years which is really impossible to memorize.

An inventory tracking software would be a great help. One of the softwares that I know will be of great help is Commander Software. They have this Electronic Parts Catalogs (EPC) also known as Electronic Microfiche. The part images can now be viewed by the store keepers right on the computer screen. You could know more about it on HLSM’s online.

This kind of software will increase both efficiency and accuracy. If you are into manufacturing environment and is in the same delima consider purchasing a software and forget about your inventory head aches.

Wise Investment for Filipinos

The thought of having to save on my own country hadn’t hit me until a sudden problem arises.   Pag-ibig Overseas Program has been a big help for me and my husband in realizing our dreams sooner.  I hope to convey this message to those Filipinos working abroad and even locally to check out the Pag-ibig Fund website and learn more about the programs. Our country has a lot to offer; we’re just too lazy to tap its resources or rather ignorant about our governments good programs.

Allow me to persuade you a little, my husband became a member around 1997.  He actively contributed for 26 months then it came to a halt.  Forward to now, year 2007, after ten years the little amount he invested was tripled! Imagine, things could have been far more better if he contributed consistently. 

With this I decided to join the bandwagon this month.  I paid the lump sum contribution for 2 years so I too can avail of the loan benefits.  Monthly contribution is as low as 200 pesos a month.  Not bad at all. And the big catch is, the interest rates for loans of more than 1 M have been dropped to 11.5%.  Before it was 17% per annum.

I challenge you to act now.  The sooner the better.

time to shop for a new laptop

My hubby normally tinkers on computer software/hardware. Trying all sort of things. About two (2) weeks ago he was frantic dropping by at my office bringing the laptop with him. He told me about his need to back up the files for he knew that when it’s turned off he’ll not be able to retrieve his data. Being careful not to power down the laptop he looked for a spare external hard drive to store the data.

Sometimes the things you fear most just comes. Well the popular Windows blue screen of death (BSD) just hit his laptop. He was uneasy and does not really know what to do next. The following day he sent it to the service center. We’re lucky that the laptop was still on it’s last month of the warranty period. It’s good to know that the center informed that they will change the hard drive and the DVD drive. It seems to be a good idea bringing it there but up to now we still don’t have it back.

We start looking for some cheap laptops as replacement. I remember my cousin in US who uses Dell and is satisfied with its durability. Since, I am pretty much into quality and price I recommend to him considering laptops sale by Dell.

He haven’t decided yet on which one to buy but I know he’s looking for the same small, light & portable model with 12" screen. He finds it convenient to bring around while traveling. For sure he will find what he needs there.