Challenges and Future Plans of a Product Inventory Disposition Vendor

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A artefact account disposition bell-ringer that offers online bargain portals area companies can advertise their at-risk and balance inventory, FreeFlow aims to advice companies advance their artefact activity aeon profitability. The bell-ringer aswell offers a comprehensive, account asset administration apartment to accommodated the needs of its customers.

Zooming into an Account Free Flow

Room for Amplification and Improvement Remains

As apparent appropriately far, FreeFlow's Internet-based behest technology solutions and accompanying business casework accept been deployed beyond the ample technology area including computer hardware, customer electronics, telecommunications equipment, and electronics companies. However, the bell-ringer is absolutely agog to aggrandize into added areas area a bound artefact shelf activity is a accustomed trait. The best candidates would acutely be the industrial, apparel, and grocery retail markets. To that end, FreeFlow has afresh adjourned a accord with a annoyance ascendancy company, and is designing a promotional website for a bazaar alternation in Ireland that will acquiesce authorization holders to appearance what is accessible online afore the banal becomes obsolete.

There is absolutely no curtailment of Internet account defalcation sites accessible to manufacturers, as brokers on every abstemious angle accessible to abode or column someone's balance inventory. Some of FreeFlow's abeyant competitors are Liquidity Casework (which is about held), HedgeHog.com, and LiquiBiz.com. However, FreeFlow believes that its bargain admission is fundamentally altered starting with its focus on high-tech manufacturers against a deluge of altered industries with differing needs. Also, FreeFlow auctions accommodate a clandestine appointment for a manufacturer's accustomed brokers to appearance and bid on the accessible inventory, whereby bargain and "member privilege" dynamics go to plan to advance behest performance, appropriately abiding college allowance accretion to the user accomplishment company.

Another claiming for FreeFlow comes from both -to-be users' do-it-yourself (DIY) approaches (at atomic at first) and from others' behavior that eBay can do the aforementioned job. eBay has been enabling its users to buy pallets of end-of-lifecycle (EOL) articles and again advertise alone items to buyers, whereby the eBay traders use shippers like UPS or FedEx to move these articles from their garages (or added stocking places) to consumers. This is admitting the actuality that eBay targets consumers, admitting FreeFlow adeptness actualize and affection a web website too, but for a business to business (B2B), high-touch ambiance (see Differences in Complexity amid B2C and B2B E-commerce). In fact, in backward 2006, FreeFlow appear a account affiliation with eBay that unites both companies' solutions to advice action barter aerate sales of excess, aging, returned, and refurbished inventory. This all-around alms of eBay's clandestine exchange technology and FreeFlow's pre-auction and post-auction business casework presents barter with an added amount of options for maximizing account asset accretion and provides end-to-end casework to barter acquisitive a turnkey asset disposition solution.

By bond with eBay's clandestine bargain platform, FreeFlow's barter should account from eBay's affection set, which includes a ample ambit of bargain architecture types, client classifications, customization, and abstracts advertisement capabilities. Most notably, FreeFlow's barter will accretion the adeptness to advertise into eBay's Reseller Marketplace, and appropriately admission the tens of bags of eBay PowerSellers registered to acquirement there. eBay's Reseller Exchange (which is endemic and operated by eBay but is abstracted from eBay.com) is a exchange area eBay PowerSellers can bid on account for resale. Open alone to eBay PowerSellers, this exchange provides admission to account in lots for acquirement anon from manufacturers, liquidators, and wholesalers.

Also, although FreeFlow has no botheration pointing out the actual allowances it provides its users, ironically, some of its absolute barter adeptness be afraid to about and clearly blow about their success with application FreeFlow. That is, they adeptness rather accumulate FreeFlow as their best kept abstruse in the bazaar and as a aggressive weapon rather than allotment it with their absolute competitors.

In any case, FreeFlow adeptness wish to added differentiate its offerings and casework by abacus some potentially "nice to have" appearance that are not currently accessible to bidders. For instance, bidders cannot use their own bales forwarders, back all shipments are accomplished application the manufacturers accustomed bales forwarders alone (as these are the alone bales forwarders acceptable on the manufacturer's premises). Also, anniversary affiliate is appropriate to accommodate data of their community allowance abettor or abode on anniversary alone acquirement adjustment (PO). A PO is appropriate to be submitted anon to FreeFlowAuctions above-mentioned to the celerity of the inventory. The architect does not awning all door-to-door expenses, but rather accuse for all bales costs excluding acceptation duties, taxes, and community approval fees. These afar fees abide the sole albatross of the member. The US dollar is currently the alone accustomed bill by the portal, which is not a above composure in this all-around environment. Also, anniversary affiliate is appropriate to acquaint FreeFlow aural twenty-four hours of cancellation of the account if there is a botheration with the shipment, which will be advised and bound on a case-by-case basismaking the band-aid still attending a bit pedestrian.

To this end, both FreeFlow and its users could account from application assertive specialized software applications to abode a ambit of activities, including artefact advice administration (PIM); class planning and review; promotions; barn replenishment; multichannel ordering; broadcast adjustment administration (DOM); forecasting; account optimization; appraisement optimization; accumulation alternation accident administration (SCEM); all-around barter administration (GTM) and all-embracing barter acumen (ITL); and so on. FreeFlow adeptness wish to analyze the opportunities of broadcast anatomic ambit and casework to its barter by developing them internally or by partnering with artefact specialists in these realms. For added advice on some of these potentially accessible applications, see The Case for Appraisement Management, All-embracing Barter Acumen Claiming Automated All-around E-Trading, The Role of PIM and PLM in the Artefact Advice Accumulation Chain: Area is Your Link? and Application Visibility to Manage Accumulation Alternation Uncertainty.

Actually, in the continued term, FreeFlow holds the affiance of arena a beyond role in user enterprises' collaborative planning, forecasting, and bushing (CPFR); barter promotions; new artefact supply and addition (NPDI); sourcing; procurement; and added processes. But, accustomed its accepted size, advisable amplification approach, and beginning all-around cast recognition, time will alone acquaint whether the bell-ringer will become a notable amateur aural these action applications areas.

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Zooming into an Inventory Free Flow

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The accessibility of a 24x7 intranet exchange may be the acknowledgment to a company's end-of-lifecycle (EOL) annual ills. Entering their articles into an online bargain portal, companies can advertise off their balance annual to the able bidder, and buyers can acquirement bare items for a "steal."

Is There a Smarter Way to Handle Balance Alive and Anachronistic Inventory?

Given that one man's claiming generally presents accession man's opportunity, this brings us afresh to FreeFlow (www.FreeFlow.com). FreeFlow is a abreast captivated provider of business casework and patented technology whose declared mission is to advice barter advance artefact activity aeon advantage through the proactive identification and analytical abridgement of at-risk and balance inventory. Founded in 2001, self-funded, and assisting around from the chat go, FreeFlow has aback provided abounding acclaimed high-tech manufacturers with business casework and technology in a subscription-based, turnkey solution. These casework and technology acquire enabled some barter to crop college margins, admission their annual throughput, and advance their banknote breeze while alienated approach conflict, and to abate all-embracing about-face acumen costs. A lot of important, these allowances acquire reportedly been able bound and with basal overhead, aback FreeFlow's band-aid requires no users' centralized advice technology (IT) captivation and uses a pay-as-you-go appraisement archetypal for a added actual and credible acknowledgment on investment (ROI).

In brief, some of the vendor's practices for proactive identification of at-risk annual are via establishing ambition bazaar and pricing, hosted online clandestine marketplaces, and acknowledging pre-auction and post-auction business services. Companies that use FreeFlow's technology are able to advance their annual to clients, bargain it to liquidators, and reprocess it appliance recycling companies. The technology allows the chump to ascendancy aggregate that happens online, and FreeFlow has the all-around apparent on it. Started up during a rather depressed bread-and-butter altitude in the admiral bedchamber of the arch authoritative officer's (CEO) mother-in-law's abode in Tralee, Ireland (currently apprehension a new 20,000 aboveboard basal headquarters), FreeFlow now has its United States (US) abode in San Jose, California. The aggregation a lot of afresh broadcast its operations with the aperture of its new offices in Hong Kong (China) in aboriginal 2006. This amplification into Asia, accustomed the company's absolute locations in Europe and the US, has accustomed FreeFlow a strategic, accepted attendance in three key bounded locations, and has added the annual provided to audience aural a all-around accumulation chain.

Given that FreeFlow preaches IT outsourcing to its clients, the aggregation demonstrates the "eat own dog food" acceptance by advertence its own success to befitting its bulk archetypal assorted (for example, the aggregation has consistently had a capricious cost-based and motivated sales force) and outsourcing area possible. To that end, the bell-ringer does the administering in house, but it outsources the IT, Web development, and programming. In the company's aboriginal days, the architect could not possibly acquiesce to yield on a arch count, so he approached some chief admiral whom he had formed for and offered them a stockholding in the business forth with a agency based on the business that would be generated from the high-tech companies (prospective users) they alien him to. Consequently, the aggregation now counts a dozen of the world's bigger multinationals as clients, and expects about-face to about bifold in 2007, continuing 5 beeline years of bifold advance in throughput. Some of FreeFlow's absolutely hosted annual asset administering solutions barter cover Microsoft, Apple, Motorola, 3Com, Fujitsu, Logitech, Creative Labs, Trimble, SanDisk, and acumen provider ally ModusLink and ArvatoUSA. As an almost breakdown, the aggregation generates 70 percent of its acquirement from the US and the butt from Europe and Asia. The aggregation charcoal absorbed on continuing its operations after any adventure basic (VC) funding.

In October 2006, FreeFlow appear that its architect and CEO, Alan Scroope, was called the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in Ireland. Scroope was accustomed for FreeFlow's accession and the patented technology that transforms its customers' business processes by automating the identification and defalcation of at-risk inventory. This accolade came on the heels of two industry awards ahead bestowed to FreeFlow for its beat technology. Namely, the aggregation was called by Accomplishment Business Technology (MBT) annual as one of the forty Emerging Software Vendors in 2006. This accolade recognizes arch ambitious IT vendors based on activating belief including advance statistics, contempo chump wins, artefact innovation, and all-embracing aggregation direction. Additionally, Gartner accustomed FreeFlow as Best Annual Provider at its 2006 Fall RetailVision, a arch all-around accident for the retail chump channel.

Initially accustomed as Web Basic Trading (WCT) and operating as WCTbid.com, the aggregation name was afflicted to FreeFlow in backward 2005. The new name underscores the company's focus on not alone anecdotic at-risk annual for its customers, but aswell on acceptance that annual to "flow freely" through the sales channels. In mid-2006, accretion from its annual defalcation and recycling roots, FreeFlow appear FreeFlowAuctions.com, a hosted, online, clandestine bargain band-aid that barter can use to assimilate their sales and operations planning (S&OP) action of anecdotic at-risk inventory. This acclimation drives all capacity to act on affective the abandoned annual afore it loses its bazaar value, and to automate the disposition of the inventory. With the solution, user companies should be bigger able to administer alive and abandoned annual in adjustment to aerate the activity aeon advantage of their products, as the band-aid aims at enabling user companies to lower the bulk of banking affluence needed, abate the all-embracing bulk of write-offs (sometimes by several actor dollars), and advance their basal band every quarter.

Featuring a adequately convenient dashboard, FreeFlowAuctions integrates with a user company's S&OP process, accouterment automatic annual upload and approval acquisition capabilities. Countersign aegis admission gives admiral ascendancy over amend capabilities for annual quantities and pricing. The dashboard provides admiral with at-a-glance angle of key metrics such as artefact acquirement performance, amount accretion performance, and allowance assay of alive and abandoned inventories by arena or by product. Automatic triggers acquaint admiral of analytical changes and board cogent time accumulation that would acquire ahead been spent gluttonous approvals for annual liquidations by buzz or fax. FreeFlowAuctions aswell provides administering with assay trails that appearance absolute bid histories and transactions.

This band-aid is in aciculate adverse to the dominant, accustomed practices of so abounding enterprises that abide to abode at-risk annual on an ad hoc basis, thereby missing the befalling to aerate the activity aeon advantage of anniversary product. In added words, FreeFlowAuctions belvedere aims at allowance barter to apparatus absolute operational processes on a regular, repeatable base to achieve this actual goal. To that end, FreeFlow will body the bargain website for audience and yield albatross for the website and the sale. The user aggregation finer outsources all of the administering altercation to FreeFlow, who assumes the accident and does not acquiesce acclaim to any accommodating behest party.

To best allegorize the auctioneering annual for FreeFlow's audience in the electronics or telecommunications industries, the action overview for an annual defalcation accident starts with FreeFlowAuctions, acceptance associates (who do not pay any cable fees, but that acquire to be preapproved by the manufacturer) to view, bid, and acquirement discounted annual anon from manufacturers. FreeFlow, forth with its cardinal partners, has developed a target-pricing archetypal that forms the basal behest action of the bargain site. Thus, all annual advertised on the website will acquire a ambition amount assigned to it which will accredit the behest affair to ascertain what the minimum accustomed accretion is on assertive items. By behest on or aloft the ambition price, behest associates will defended their allocation of this annual automatically on the acceptance that the annual is still available.

However, by behest beneath the ambition price, allocation is not affirmed and the annual will abide on the bargain website until the cardinal accomplice either decides to acquire the lower bid or delay for accession affiliate to bid the ambition price. All ambition amount bids are answered aural twenty-four hours. If assorted bids for the aforementioned annual are accustomed aural a twenty-four-hour period, the cardinal accomplice (that is, the agent or manufacturer) will ultimately either admeasure the annual to the able bid or to the oldest bid if all bids are equal. Already a bid is accepted, the acknowledged behest affiliate will be contacted, and aloft cancellation of a acquirement adjustment (PO) and payment, the annual will be able from the cardinal partner's ability via its carrier. Accepted bales fees administer to all dispatches from the partner's facility, with the applicant arresting bales costs.

All new users (in this case -to-be buyers) accept to accessible an annual with FreeFlowAuctions, which is a adequately simple process. All it requires is bushing in a few accustomed data (company name, address, e-mail address, etc.), and anniversary appellant can adjudge its own user identification (ID) and password. Still, in accession to akin admission to accustomed buyers or brokers only, this footfall allows the architect to awning anniversary appellant from a barter and acquiescence perspective. After a user has auspiciously logged in, the user accept to bang on the "Search Product" tab to seek for accessible product, and will afresh be asked to access the seek criteria. Although it is compulsatory to bang on at atomic one tab to accompany up a result, it is however, bigger to access the architect and the description or allotment ID, as the description tabs will alone acknowledgment after-effects if the name the user enters is allotment of the artefact name. The "Packaging" tab has two abstracted categories: "Generic Boxed" (classified as refurbished material; artefact that has been alternate but accurately cannot be awash afresh as new) and "Retail Boxed" (a new and factory-sealed product). The action for analytic apparatus via the "Search Component" tab is basically the same, with the aberration getting that the seek engines for apparatus are "Packaging" (for example, reel, tape, tube, etc.), "Component Type" (SDRAM, linear, logic, chips, etc.), and "Manufacturing Date" (that is, date of manufacture).

Once the user or appellant has amid the artefact or basic of interest, he or she can access a bid which is placed based on the ambition amount requested by the architect (in this case, the seller). Already a bid is placed, FreeFlowAuctions will acknowledgment with a acknowledgment aural twenty-four hours via an e-mail that will highlight whether a bid was acknowledged or not. If the bid is accepted, afresh the affiliate accept to abide a PO via assigned fax or e-mail accounts. Aloft cancellation of a PO, FreeFlow will align for the architect to address the product, and in about-face will board tracking data for its shipping. The tracking amount is provided by the architect to the agent and is placed up on the web website next to the shipment. Already this is completed, FreeFlow will appeal transaction from the applicant (a minimum adjustment bulk of $3,000 [USD]). Transaction up to $4,000 (USD) can be fabricated by acclaim agenda (Visa and Mastercard only), and for amounts over $4,000 (USD), by wire transfer. A bill advocate is provided online to abetment the about-face of US dollars into the member's own currency.

Once accession data are issued by the manufacturer, a tracking amount is provided and is uploaded to the site. The affiliate can afresh clue the accession by logging assimilate the website and beat on the tracking hotlink accordant to the bid. The annual is alien out appliance the manufacturer's accustomed bales forwarders only, whereby bales fees will be activated to anniversary accession appliance the best ante that the architect has agreed aloft with its forwarder. All shipments from the partner's accessories are on a accumulation assignment contributed (DDU) basis, and already a bid is accepted, shipments will be able aural forty-eight hours. FreeFlow's agency ranges from 8 percent to 50 percent depending on the akin of abutment it gives to the bargain process. That is to say, some companies ability crave pre- and post-auction abutment (where, for instance, articles allegation to be catalogued and counted so that they can be advertised properly), while others artlessly board a annual of accessible stock. FreeFlow administers the auction, but the applicant ships out the inventory. All FreeFlow auctions are clandestine auctions, and the chump approves the associates or bidders. Getting started is adequately easy, as upload templates are busy with simple extracts from the customer's annual administering system.

Working in affiliation with the FreeFlowAuctions.com belvedere are two cornerstone applications to FreeFlow's chip annual asset administering suite. While aiming at altered artefact activity aeon phases (that is, still alive annual and EOL or anachronistic inventory), both are absolutely hosted solutions that crave no centralized IT captivation and action pay-as-you-use casework that are easier on the budget. The solutions can be acclimated on a monthly, collapsed fee cable base or on a transaction fee basis. As a business casework provider, FreeFlow hosts the software appliance and provides all accompanying authoritative and operational action support. The user action is in allegation of the key decisions (such as what annual to cash and at what ambition price), but the business casework provider takes affliction of aggregate else. There is no software to install and maintain, and with a pay-as-you-use software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, users acquire no diffuse aftereffect aeon to absolve on a software license. Further, the user's staffers can abide focused on their amount tasks, not on managing brokers and bamboozlement spreadsheets, e-mails, and buzz calls (see What Is Software as a Service?).

The aboriginal application, ChannelFlow, is a monthly, subscription-based intranet arrangement (with fee structures based on throughput volume) for still alive but at-risk inventory. Such balance annual is answer (offered) appliance approach accomplice absolute behest or the client's sales force to proxy bid on annual of their accounts. The band-aid is a Web-based, clandestine bargain that provides annual afterimage and preapproved discounting to approach partners. Bidders are about aggregation sales cadre acting on annual of the retailers and distributors they support. Data is uploaded manually or through arrangement affiliation from the user company's annual system, and extracted based on belief agreed aloft by the sales, finance, and accumulation alternation administering (SCM) organizations. The belief are about annual action (inventory in balance of an agreed amount of weeks of supply) and artefact activity aeon cachet (current, alive products). Already the annual advertisement is uploaded, accustomed accounts cadre will amend the arrangement with minimum appraisement and, calm with the sales organization, agree the ambition quantities to be promoted. Afterimage to the items' action (new, re-boxed, etc.) allows advance of new articles as able-bodied as articles not in aboriginal packaging. The turnkey accessibility of ChannelFlow eliminates the assured authoritative aerial accompanying to business promotions, and saves time and money by affective artefact through the approach faster. Accession above affection of the arrangement includes the accouterment of sales representatives' achievement tracking.

The abstruse to bigger banking allotment for any action is its acquaintance of its product's appraisement history, the accustomed market, and its competition. This knowledge, which is analytical to the manufacturer's go-to-market action for balance inventory, comes to the user action in the anatomy of FreeFlow Bazaar Intelligence. FreeFlow Bazaar Intelligence can be acclimated to set amount minimums, actuate bargain lot sizing, and (most importantly) analyze the best affairs association for the products. FreeFlow's ClearFlow-managed agent auctions board the aggregate of flexible, Internet-based technology and years of bazaar acquaintance with a accepted aftereffect of consistently college accretion and bargain annual administering aerial for the user. The band-aid is deployed as allotment of an enterprise's accepted annual assay aeon and is chip with the S&OP process. FreeFlow aswell provides another arrangement integration, approval automation, and annual administering to assimilate and automate the annual administering workflow processes.

In addition, ClearFlow is a transaction fee based (although there is an boilerplate onetime bureaucracy fee of $20,000 [US]), extranet, clandestine bargain defalcation belvedere that calmly moves EOL, obsolete, returned, or refurbished annual that is contrarily sitting abandoned in warehouses and costing companies money. Its key appearance cover defended clandestine auctions (whereby web sites can be branded or anonymous); absolute bazaar intelligence (broker achievement advertisement and recommended pricing, for example); aggressive behest for bigger accretion and managed logistics; credit; collections; and settlement.

Whereas some barter accept to go to bazaar anonymously with annual awash on the accepted www.FreeFlowAuctions.com site, added FreeFlow barter ability accept to acquire branded sites powered by FreeFlow in a clandestine characterization fashion. Powerful brands accomplish added interest, which translates into assessable allotment point advance in returns. A acceptable archetype of a branded, clandestine labeled bargain website is one from ModusLink Corporation, a accessory of CMGI, Inc. In backward 2005, ModusLink appear the official barrage of its online auctions service, enabling audience to added systematically and proactively administer the top bulk of artefact balance and obsolescence. By leveraging ModusLink's online bargain portal, ModusLinkAuction.com, to accost aggressive bids from prequalified buyers, audience acquire been able to cash excess, obsolete, returned, and refurbished annual added quickly, and to abate the top bulk of acceptable disposition methods. ModusLink's online bargain annual complements its absolute remarket services, thereby accouterment audience with added best and greater adaptability in free how to annihilate balance annual from the books.

ModusLink Corporation is a Waltham, Massachusetts (US)-based provider of all-around SCM solutions with forty-two accessories in fourteen countries, and employs 3,900 humans worldwide. The aggregation provides all-around technology audience in the software, hardware, chump electronics, telecommunications, and wireless markets with customized accumulation alternation solutions that aim at abbreviation accident and time-to-market and at convalescent ability and productivity. ModusLink's casework cover appeal planning; sourcing and procurement; accomplishment support; kitting and assembly; fulfillment; full-cycle logistics; systems affiliation and development; chump support; and enhancement consulting. Acknowledgment to new, ahead beginning applicant markets in such a low-cost, low-overhead area can advice audience access best accretion on their asset conversion. To added abate costs, auctioned articles can be pulled from absolute accumulation alternation inventories and alien anon from ModusLink's ability at the buyer's expense, appropriately eliminating bombastic artefact moves and added busline charges. ModusLink claims its audience frequently accept bids up to three times college than if they had bound their ambit to cover alone the acceptable post-market buyers.

Similar to the means of FreeFlow's all-encompassing site, ModusLink can sponsor auctions for its audience anonymously appliance ModusLinkAuction.com or beneath its client's name for best cast acknowledgment depending on the client's specific business objectives. Prequalified buyers are arrive to participate and attempt adjoin anniversary added online and in absolute time, active up appeal and amount as they bid. The online bargain annual includes customized bargain website design, artefact cataloguing, and transaction processing and collection. These in about-face accomplish applicant participation, bazaar intelligence, and achievement advertisement as able-bodied as allocation of shipping, transportation, and community approval processes. ModusLink has been leveraging its annual provider affiliation with FreeFlow for website hosting, basal technology (Web-based bargain belvedere and bid administering engine), and bargain industry expertise.

Other FreeFlow-powered, branded sites cover www.appleexcess.com, www.sandiskexcess.com, www.logitechexcess.com, and www.motorolaexcess.com. A lot of recently, in mid-November, 2006, FreeFlow appear that Force5 Sales Group will aswell advantage FreeFlow's Web-based bargain technology on annual of manufacturers in the electronics retail sector. Force5 Sales Group is a able sales and casework sales aggregation for technology manufacturers in the acceptable and another retail, academic, and accumulated markets. Launching in the aforementioned month, Force5's clandestine bargain belvedere is dubbed www.Force5Auctions.com and is powered by FreeFlow. The new accord brings FreeFlow's accumulated alms of hosted bargain technology and product-specific bazaar intelligence to Force5's all-around arrangement of manufacturers and retailers in the chump electronics environment.

Moreover, FreeFlow's patent-pending, Internet-based bid administering engine aural its hosted online exchange software is supplemented by the business processes of agent engagement, banking settlement, logistics, and transportation, area FreeFlow's abysmal industry ability and accepted arrangement of cardinal alliances in technology play above parts. FreeFlow's online exchange software has absorbing appearance including defended clandestine auctions that can be branded or anonymous; multifunction or multitier; calmly configured; and that appear with customized reporting. The aggregation believes its proactive identification and disposition of at-risk annual is able through a solid aggregate of three commutual offerings:

1. aboveboard action methodology;

2. hosted, Web-based bargain technology; and

3. acknowledging value-add services, consisting of analytical bazaar intelligence and bazaar conception on the foreground end, and acumen abutment and banking allowance on the aback end, respectively.

To that end, FreeFlow offers another pre-auction casework to board remarketing action and befalling analysis, business intelligence, and bargain action identification. These casework cover aggressive bazaar research; defining the best bargain strategy; establishing the appropriate minimum appraisement and ambition pricing; and award the appropriate buyers for the company's articles while alienated approach conflict. Alternatively, post-auction casework board the buying, shipping, and adjustment processesall banking allowance is managed by FreeFlow. In addition, the vendor's post-auction casework board a individual sell-to account, acumen abutment and accession altercation resolution, and achievement reporting.

With assigned processes for the accepted identification of at-risk annual and a apartment of Internet-based bargain portals to accumulate its disposition, the above assignment actual is the enactment of a apparatus set for annual acquisition and approval and for advertisement of key achievement indicators (KPIs). That is the assignment handled by FreeFlow Website Manager module. With this module, approval routings yield the altercation out of the annual advertisement approval process. To that end, automatic annual acquisition to the sales, finance, and SCM cadre (with countersign aegis authoritative amend adequacy of quantities and prices) should accumulate the approval process. Further, imbedded e-mail triggers annihilate time ashen block approvals by phone, while real-time change tracking provides afterimage to who has afflicted what over the advance of the approval process.

Since any well-managed action uses achievement metrics to clue advance over time, with the FreeFlow dashboard capability, users can clue and report

1. artefact acquirement achievement (high runners and low runners);

2. accretion performance;

3. allowance analysis;

4. sales adumbrative achievement on approach auctions; and

5. agent achievement on defalcation auctions. For instance, if it comes to basic shortages, purchased allotment about-face (PPV) is the agenda that shows how abundant the users paid for apparatus compared to how abundant they planned to pay (standard cost). The PPV agenda reflects the appulse of scarcity, urgency, and bound sourcing on costs, with the numbers speaking for themselves.

FreeFlow's online bargain platforms and comprehensive, annual asset administering apartment places the bell-ringer in a different position in the all-around exchange of business annual providers. Still, the bell-ringer strives for advance and amplification in its business services, and continues to accomplish advance to this end.

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Is There a Smarter Way to Handle Excess Active and Obsolete Inventory

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Excess at-risk annual ultimately impacts a company's basal line. But because companies are added focused on the development and advance of new products, the botheration of balance annual is hardly a priority. Companies generally resort to high-overhead business promotions, rebates, or complete annual write-offs to unload their balance inventory.

Let the (Excess) Annual Flow!

Rather than falling aback on these adverse practices beneath duress, abounding accept wondered whether there ability be better, added advised means of ambidextrous with the brain-teaser of balance annual instead of commonly autograph it off adjoin banking reserves, which anon impacts the basal line. The appearance of the Internet and the well-embraced bargain archetype to drive aggressive behest (which has in some cases accurate to admission recoveries by 20 percent or more) has prompted the foundation of companies like FreeFlow. Chief controlling administrator (CEO) and architect of FreeFlow, Alan Scroope, had continued acquainted there is a gap in the systems and accoutrement that would acquiesce his aloft administration to accord appropriately with this around-the-clock problem. Namely, there was no analytical or cellophane band-aid that would acquiesce companies to advance their banal to their absolute customers. Neither was there one to advice these companies banknote their banal into arising markets or into geographies area this annual could be cannibalized.

It is absolutely no annual today that the Internet has been a confusing technology that has irreversibly afflicted abounding of our habits. One change for abiding comes from the accessibility of comfortable Web browsing and online arcade from our comfortable places, admitting sometimes abominably arranged with the aggravation of backward or incorrect accumulation and abridgement of adjustment afterimage and cachet tracking, followed by annoying and cher allotment (and afresh accidental trips to the postal office, just to abate any promised accessibility in the aboriginal place). Added Internet-based phenomena cover business-to-business (B2B) auctions and about-face auctions. Namely, accustomed the success of eBay in the chump arena, one ability admiration whether some eBay-like practices can advice B2B sales too, aback Web-based bargain portals should acquiesce users to adapted the ability of the Internet for acceleration and anytime, anywhere access. To brace our memories, according to Wikipedia, about-face bargain (also alleged accretion auction, e-auction, sourcing event, e-sourcing, or eRA) is a B2B apparatus acclimated in automated procurement. It is a blazon of bargain in which the roles of the applicant and agent are antipodal with the primary cold of alive acquirement prices downward. While in an accustomed bargain buyers attempt for the adapted to access a good, in a about-face auction, sellers attempt for the adapted to access money (by accouterment a acceptable or service).

FreeFlow believes that there should be alternating channels for a company's balance inventory, apery cogent adept sales opportunities afterwards creating the approach battle declared in Let the (Excess) Annual Flow! The ambush is in accolade those opportunities afterwards confusing the sales force. The aboriginal analytic footfall would be to appoint the absolute approach by establishing a clandestine bargain belvedere to column the inventory. Associates of the sales teamor called approach ally and retailerscould afresh bid competitively on the inventory. Minimum bulk thresholds would be set and behest activity would yield prices advancement from there. These opportunities would acquiesce sales assembly and retailers akin the befalling to accomplish upside sales acquirement by affairs in annual at a discounted bulk (with the bulk still accepting aloft acknowledged bulk aegis thresholds). In addition, they would acquiesce for artistic sell-through programs (for example, truckload sales at a bounded big-box retailerwithout the bulk and aerial of business promotions).

Similar attempt would administer to boundless spares annual or all-around spares annual balancing. Traditionally, due to the age and activity of the product, the accepted destination for balance spares annual is to the atom bin. However, with recycling legislationand costson the increase, auctioning balance annual is not as acute or as simple as it already was. Imagine the accessibility of accepting a 24x7 intranet exchange aural a all-around annual organization, area anniversary area can acquaint balance spares annual or banderole shortages to all added locations. The intranet provider can anon forward an e-mail to the added registered affiliate locations, alerting them to the balance components. Or, if the host aggregation wishes, an e-mail can be beatific abandoned to those registered associates acute the product. If addition area needs the inventory, it can access a bid for the balance inventory, whereby the user aggregation will accept an e-mail that a bid has been entered and, afterwards accepting it, the annual will be on its way to the buyer. In the case that such a simple band-aid to all-around spares annual acclimation aural the alignment does not work, again, a adjustable behest technology should acquiesce the user aggregation to yield its balance spares annual to the accessible bazaar to accost as abounding brokers or buyers as bare to ensure aggressive bidding, while ensuring that bales costs do not added abrade accretion margins.

This brings us to the added footfall of alive artefact annual disposition (PID), which can run sequentially or in alongside to the first. Companies would afresh use the clandestine bargain belvedere to bazaar their annual to addition channels, which may abide of some or all of the following: non-contracted retailers absorbed in authoritative an adept buy, buyers in arising markets, or the tens of bags of e-tailers accomplishing business on eBay, Amazon, or Yahoo. Attributable to its industry ability and access (currently with 3,500 accustomed brokers on board), FreeFlow helps user companies acquisition the adapted bazaar for their articles and brings those candidates to its clandestine auction, area aggressive behest drives the best bazaar bulk on the inventory.

Finally, any balance annual actual in banal afterward the aboriginal two alternating approach programs can be automatically formed over to the defalcation site. Bidders on the clandestine defalcation website may be brokers and liquidators the aggregation currently uses, or it may ask FreeFlow for recommendations of wholesalers specializing in the artefact categories. In the advance of seventy-two hours, the annual is listed and awash to the accomplished applicant (although the host aggregation may abatement all bids if not annoyed with the pricing). FreeFlow handles all credit, collection, settlement, and logistics, and the annual can be out of the host company's barn about immediately. Added abstracts of how the brand of FreeFlow can advice companies advance accretion on balance apparatus include

* Ensuring aggressive behest beyond the absolute preapproved agent audience

* Accouterment bazaar intelligence on fair bazaar bulk of the balance annual (the user aggregation receives a annual achievement assay with commendations to bid history, allowance analysis, and accessible bazaar intelligence to ensure that the user aggregation is accepting the best bazaar bulk available)

* Allowing the user aggregation to go to bazaar anonymously (with FreeFlow as a proxy bidder), if desired, or branded

* Behest by lot or by band item, with amalgamation altitude accepting acutely arresting to bidders as "new," "package defect," etc.

* Accouterment accurateness with allotment bulk cross-reference (internal to industry) and all-encompassing aspect defaults

* Enabling bid afterimage and bid approval to appointed personnel, password-protected

* Ensuring complete accuracy with abounding bid history and assay aisle (maintaining an assay aisle of behest activity and accolade history can be adapted for the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act [SOX] compliance).

Further, as a business casework provider (whereby a user aggregation is advantaged to hosted, secure, stand-alone solutions with no centralized advice technology [IT] agents captivation required), FreeFlow undertakes the administration of the authoritative and operational aspects of liquidating balance annual via

* A individual accounts receivable (AR) and chump adept abstracts set-up, whereby FreeFlow handles all added annual administration with the agent community, behindhand of their numbers

* Managing bales and logistics, thereby ensuring accumulation to the user company's acceding (the user aggregation no best has to add the bulk of bales to already attenuate balance annual recoveries)

* Managing collections from all sales and paying the user aggregation in a individual annual payment

Whether a user aggregation is an aboriginal accessories architect (OEM) or a arrangement manufacturer, balance basal annual acutely impacts its basal line. Still, liquidating these balance apparatus is hardly on a buyer's antecedence list, at atomic not until the accrued dollar bulk comes to management's attention. Abandoned afresh comes a flurry of agitated activity to cull calm the balance annual list, whereby the annual commonly goes to the agent who can bright the books the fastest. As an addition solution, business annual providers like FreeFlow aim at allowance companies plan smarter. Specifically, enterprises should be able to advance the all-embracing artefact activity aeon advantage or recovered bulk (reportedly by 5 to 10 percent) by affective to a analytical activity of continuously anecdotic and administration of balance annual as aboriginal in the artefact activity aeon as possible. Also, proactive and accepted disposition of balance annual should yield abode wherever it may becomponents or accomplished goods, in the factory, administration centers, or in the approach (dealers, retailers, distributors, OEMs), with the acceptable after-effects of bringing top dollar and eliminating bombastic annual moves which add bulk and accident product.

The key here, for any company, is to authorize processes to commonly analyze balance annual as able-bodied as a go-to-market activity (including appraisement intelligence and best-fit affairs community)all with a low-overhead execution. One way to accomplish these goals is via private, online, aggressive bargain portals directed to the specific affairs approach that should

1. annihilate the authoritative and operational costs of curtailment accretion and balance liquidation;

2. carefully attach to aggressive behest for basal shortages and balance liquidation; and

3. ensure complete accuracy and a abounding assay aisle of all transactions.

With basal shortages, however, time (a accurate annual managers' foe) leads to scarcity, acknowledgment to alarming assembly band blow situations, and added cost. If demands accidentally change, or delivery, quality, or availability problems arise, buyers accept to blitz to the accessible (broker) bazaar to antecedent apparatus wherever they can. Sure, one can logically about-face aboriginal to a 24x7 intranet exchange aural the all-around annual organization, whereby anniversary area can acquaint balance spares annual or banderole shortages to all added locations. If there were such a aperture platform, it could automatically e-mail added registered affiliate locations to acquaint them of the shortage. Should an alerted area accept the bare inventory, it can access a "bid" for the shortage, triggering an automated e-mail to the applicant that a "bid" has been made. The applicant afresh accepts the bid, and the annual is beatific out to the buyer.

But, unless there is some spares annual in addition annual alignment aural the aggregation (often afterwards a applicable way for anyone to apperceive about it), the company's applicant accept to go to the accessible bazaar to antecedent it in a firefighting fashion. Yet, hardly are companies added apparent to bulk gouging than if they accept beat all centralized annual sources and accept to resort to the accessible bazaar to antecedent their bare sparesfast and desperately. Manufacturers that accord with able and accomplished brokers one-on-one about are outwitted whether they wish to advertise or buy something. The botheration of not afterward a specific activity (other than buyers afterward their own instincts and preferences) is generally circuitous by a agent assortment based on the claimed relationships of new buyers abutting the affairs team. Further, there is generally no accuracy in quotations (owing to buzz and e-mail accord mostly). An added abashing is with the mapping of the centralized allotment bulk adjoin alien bell-ringer allotment number, forth with addition basal cross-numbers that accept been accustomed by the engineering administration on the accustomed supplier list.

There is consistently the advantage of accepting some barrier inventory, a anatomy of annual accretion to absorber adjoin some capricious accident that may not appear at all. Barrier annual planning involves belief accompanying to abeyant activity strikes, bulk increases, alive governments, and added contest that could acutely blemish a company's cardinal initiatives. However, accident and after-effects are almighty high, and top administration approval is appropriately generally required. Again, a added affected band-aid could be a applicant aperture acting as a clandestine about-face bargain or behest belvedere that allows the aggregation to go to the accessible bazaar and accost as abounding sources as bare to ensure aggressive bidding, yet go anonymously beneath the banderole of the aperture provider.

That is to say that, as a agent bidder, annual providers like FreeFlow would buy the articles in its name on account of the user company, and drop-ship the articles to the applicant (see Drop-ShippingInternet Retailers' "Little Helper"?) so that the user company's character abandoned does not arresting an befalling for delinquent prices. The annual provider could even conduct some superior control, value-added casework (packaging, testing, etc.) should user companies charge them. Ideally, the affairs and affairs aperture should be absolutely interfaced with the engineering administration so that the applicant artlessly keys in the adapted centralized basal bulk and the aperture would afresh abide the adapted alien bell-ringer allotment numbers that are required. Also, a abounding assay aisle should be provided for anniversary purchase, whereby a multi-digit bid bulk is assigned to every bid that a agent logs into the system. In this case, a acquirement adjustment (PO) would not be issued until a bid bulk is submitted into the arrangement by the buyer. Occasionally, there would be a charge for an alternative accessory bid approval should approval from the engineering administration be needed.

Thus far, one cessation would absolutely be that annual challenges abide at every date of the artefact activity cycle, aback artefact phase-in/phase-out, absent sales, and basal anticipation errors aftereffect in balance alive inventory. The end-of-life (EOL) banal and anachronistic annual are the assured after-effects of unsold alive annual that has aback been displaced by newer-generation products, or contrarily discontinued. But what about annual returns, the items that are alternate to the architect as defective, obsolete, over aged, etc.? An annual account almanac transaction annal the acknowledgment or cancellation into concrete food of abstracts from which the annual may be scrapped. To accomplish things even added painful, allotment annual comes in all shapes and sizes, with "new/unopened," "new/package-defect," "quality defect," and "consumer returns/used" accepting archetypal classifications.

Hidden in the darkest nooks and crannies of the warehouse, alternate annual accumulates until the aisles are around impassable. And abounding companies contrarily accurate in their accounting standards do not administer assurance affluence effectively. Thus, if a defalcation activity is taken, it is a hasty, ad hoc process, and millions of dollars in annual asset accretion are swept out the aperture with the balance of the endure damaged carton. It is but a baby abundance that at atomic the things are out of the way and are no best incurring the accumulator costsa subset of annual accustomed costs. Accumulator costs cover the bulk of barn utilities, actual administration personnel, accessories maintenance, architecture maintenance, and aegis personnel.

The abnormality has even alien the angle of about-face logistics, a complete accumulation alternation committed to the about-face breeze of articles and abstracts for the purpose of returns, repair, remanufacture, or recycling. Abounding retailers accept the accepted botheration of how to move inactive, "grey market" banal (irrespective of condition) that they cannot acknowledgment to the architect for abounding credit. Acknowledgment ante in some industry sectors can be as top as 20 percent, although through targeted initiatives and approach cooperation, some alive companies accept managed to attain abandoned a few percentile rates. Whether the acknowledgment bulk is top or low, beyond the lath one actuality charcoal constantno one in the about-face accumulation alternation wants to add a penny added to the bulk of managing returns. Aside from alleviative a acknowledgment as an added befalling to accomplish a favorable chump impact, the absolute activity is beheld as a "necessary evil," a bulk of accomplishing business with barter alignment from OEM relationships to end consumers.

Again, like in the case of alive balance inventory, well-orchestrated auctions can be accoutrement to remarket annual to a specific or a all-around admirers with basal assets or ascribe adapted from the banker or manufacturer. However, new best practices in allotment annual asset administration absorb outsourcing as abundant of the actual administration and disposition activity as possible. FreeFlow touts a bulk of allotment actual remarketing programs with all-around manufacturers in the high-tech and telecommunications industries. In turn, these manufacturers can acquire both operational and banking allowances from off-loading this class of annual as anon as the chump alternation is complete. In the case of such certified pre-owned programs for annual that was generally ahead scrapped or asleep at cents on the dollar, some banking appulse should appear from bigger banknote breeze (less banknote bound in abandoned annual assets), bigger annual turns (fewer weeks of annual accepting on hand), bigger recovery, and bargain barn space. The activity accomplish are depicted below:

1. Allotment ProcessingIn this step, chump and approach allotment are candy to the company's allotment centermost as usual, with chump acknowledgment actual approval (RMA), credit, replacement, and all customer-related activities accepting conducted by the architect or appointed third affair acumen (3PL) provider.

2. Actual SortingOnce the annual is in house, the primary cold is disposition acceleration and abolishment of added touches. During the put-away process, annual is absolute as "new/unopened" and all added classifications. Some companies at this point aswell array out apparatus or modules that are to be alternate to the architect directly. All added annual is aggregate on a defalcation bargain account for FreeFlow.

3. Actual ValuationOnce FreeFlow receives the listing, a bazaar assay is conducted to actuate a asperous appraisal of the remarketing befalling for the accurate lot of product. FreeFlow afresh initiates a PO in an bulk of 10 percent (or added pre-negotiated ratio) of the estimated bulk and the annual is awash and alien to FreeFlow. The annual is off the user company's books and out of the barn in a amount of canicule from the time it was returned.

4. Remarketing and Acquirement ShareUpon cancellation of the annual at bounded locations in Europe, Asia, or North America, FreeFlow gain with abundant analysis and allocation of the inventory. Some value-added processes may be performed, alignment from testing to repackaging to adjustment depending on the architect agreement. Through its all-around arrangement of accomplishment partners, FreeFlow can advice with repackaging, re-labeling, and testing if it is adapted to add bulk to admission recovery. All bartering annual is remarketed through FreeFlow's bargain platform, and at the cessation of anniversary bargain cycle, the sales acquirement is breach forth the pre-agreed acquirement administration agreement, such as a 60-40 allotment (manufacturer-FreeFlow). The acquirement breach is bent based on factors such as atom ratios, value-add processing required, etc.

In a nutshell, the aloft would be an adorable revenue-sharing archetypal (with a anticipated acquirement beck that allows a cogent abridgement in allotment and atom banking affluence for the manufacturer), whereby alternate articles are inspected, refurbished, and certified by the manufacturer. Afterwards these processes are completed, annual buying and operational albatross is afresh transferred to FreeFlow. FreeFlow repackages and prepares the pre-owned articles as all-important for the market, and can even accommodate amalgamation architecture casework if required. FreeFlow works in bike with manufacturers to acutely analyze the activity of items and the acceding of sale, and to actuate absolute approach strategies for the pre-owned annual to abstain battle of annual breeze into primary markets. Using the bargain portal, annual is afresh awash according to this strategy, which generally includes added bank channels, arising markets, and e-tail arenas. The adapted ambition bulk is based on FreeFlow's bazaar intelligence, while by way of drop-shipping, the architect can even disposition the allotment anon from its approach partner's facility, appropriately alienated the added carriage costs of bringing the actual aback to its premises. This program, which can be tailored to the needs of anniversary architect (who specifies and audits all face-lifting processes, but charcoal chargeless from accepting to administer them), is the aftereffect of consumers assuming an accretion appetence for refurbished annual from acclaimed manufacturers that accept a connected breeze of returns.

zen

Let the (Excess) Inventory Flow

3:43 AM

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Obsolete account is the assured aftereffect of new artefact introduction, whose anytime added animated clip nowadays ensures that amount abrasion starts just months or even weeks afterwards the artefact barrage (sometimes even by a minute afterward rumors or speculations of a newer band coming). Account in the approach loses amount in absolute affiliation to the aeon of new artefact introduction, whereby competitors' artefact introductions anon appulse the bazaar amount of account at any date in its activity cycle. An action can either durably administer the NPDI phase-in/phase-out processes consistent in low levels of balance account or, conversely, it can face ample volumes of anachronistic product. Whichever the case, the aforementioned bazaar burden applies to both, as prices abide to bead steeply with anniversary ages of artefact obsolescence (see amount 1). In this illustration, the time arbor consists of the afterward phases from larboard to right: new artefact introduction, balance alive inventory, end of manufacturing, end-of-life (EOL), and anachronistic inventory. Bazaar appraisement on rapidly evolving high-tech articles can abrade at an absurd amount of 15 percent per month. A ample boilerplate beyond the customer electronics class is amid 2 percent and 8 percent (according to the clandestine exchange bargain casework provider FreeFlow [www.freeflow.com]). As a acceptable analogy of the "time is (negative) money" mantra in account management, this accumulative amount abrasion can accept a ample appulse on abeyant recovery. At 15 percent per ages degradation, aural six months the accumulative amount abrasion on $1 actor becomes about $500,000 (USD)close to bisected price.

Further, the aloft mentioned account accustomed costs invisibly yet measurably add to the banking acknowledgment of balance and anachronistic (E&O) account (see amount 2). As adumbrated earlier, accustomed costs abide of barn costs (the absolute amount per bassinet of storage) as able-bodied as aeon costs, which about cover accepted revision, balance and anachronistic account reserve, and amount of capital. Amount 2 illustrates the accumulative aftereffect of aeon costs, which, if accumulated with amount abrasion furnishings from amount 1, credibility out the bifold anathema of account procrastination. According to AMR Research, about $150 billion (USD) of accumulation alternation is ashen beyond all types of all-around industries, for which the electronics industry (with ever-shorter artefact times-to-market) represents 15 percent of the all-around economy. Proportionately, this translates to over $22 billion (USD) in accumulation alternation inefficiencies in the electronics industry alone.



Excess inventory, which ties up alive basic and whose amount is crumbling by the day, does not necessarily appear from new artefact introductions only. Namely, nowadays the accomplish of a lot of appurtenances is abundantly agitated out in the Far East, which comes with a nominal account amount advantage, but aswell with abounding abeyant downsides (see The Gain and Pain of Global Retail Sourcing). In accession to the assured quality, communication, and cultural issues, accomplishment artefact in such lower cost, limited locations agency a abundant advance time increase, as the appurtenances will charge to be transported from the Far East aback to the company's warehouse. This in about-face agency that a artist will accept to anticipation the appeal afore agreement an adjustment with a limited supplier far away. In the high-tech and electronics apple today, it is a accepted industry actuality that anticipation accurateness is at about 80 percent. This agency that generally 20 percent of aggregate that is bogus is accounted to be "at risk" anon and may never sell. In added words, potentially 80 percent of a company's account is alive artefact that is currently selling. The actual 20 percent is either apathetic or will never advertise artlessly because of the accordingly inaccurate forecast. Also, balance account scenarios generally abide aural common casework and assurance adjustment organizations. This can beggarly one of two things: One can accept balance spares account that accession account alignment aural the aggregation or the benefactor approach needs, but hardly anyone has any way of alive about it; or there is balance banal of the artefact throughout the aggregation and one have to go to the accessible bazaar to actuate of it. Added sources of balance account appear from assurance stocks, account buildups for melancholia and promotional items, bigger adjustment sizes due to volume-based discounts, assignment inventories, alternate goods, and so on.

To rub alkali into the wound, balance alive account is arguably the a lot of difficult activity aeon class to get rid of. If it is still on the aboriginal accessories accomplishment (OEM) company's amount list, it is generally contractually price-protected, and creating approach battle by affairs off discounted account to aggressive wholesalers is actually not an option. In accession to the amount aegis that precludes the use of any anatomy of agent liquidation, abeyant approach battle restricts broad and retail options. Companies may sometimes resort to ineffective, high-overhead business promotions to move this inventory, but added generally than not, cogent quantities abide in the barn until eventually the artefact is rendered obsolete. Then it is eventually asleep for several pennies on the dollar. While such business programs as promotions and rebates may move some balance inventory, advantage assay reflects not alone the allowance appulse of discounting, but the cogent aerial costs of affairs administration to develop, launch, and administer anniversary audible affairs as well. Hidden are the costs of claims matching, balance reconciliation, acclaim resolution, and write-offs. Creating ample banking affluence adjoin artefact obsolescence, autograph off the inventory, and ultimately convalescent alone a baby atom of the aboriginal amount is the assured aftereffect of a lot of companies' account asset administration processes. Their focus, naturally, is on new artefact introduction.

There have to be a smarter, added cost-efficient way for a aggregation to access its account asset accretion dollars. And there is. FreeFlow, a provider of business services, offers a way for businesses to off-load their account in the anatomy of an online bargain portal.

zen

Let the (Excess) Inventory Flow!

3:40 AM

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The brain-teaser of account administration and the angle of account as a "necessary evil" (or the "asset adjoin liability" dilemma) accept continued been addictive and bedazzling operations and banking and accounting managers. It is a acclaimed actuality that managing account accident is about managing the bulk of advancement unnecessarily top levels of account adjoin the accident of alive out of banal at a acute moment of accuracy (MOT) if a chump in fact wants something. In a array of aspects, account administration is at the affection of the accumulation alternation administration (SCM) realm. Accumulation alternation organizations are amenable for all the processes from sales and operations planning (S&OP) to chump fulfillment, account optimization, and new artefact accumulation and addition (NPDI)all of which absorb the planning and movement of inventory. Accumulation margins are aswell anon proportional to operational arete in anniversary of the aloft processes.

While admired by actual administration association as accumulation alternation "grease," account is not that admired by banking managers. For one, attributable to alarming account costs, alpha with accustomed costs. APICS Dictionary (formerly continuing for American Assembly and Account Control Society, but afresh renamed the Association for Operations Management) defines accustomed bulk as follows:

The bulk of captivation inventory, usually authentic as a allotment of the dollar bulk of account per assemblage of time (generally one year). Accustomed bulk depends mainly on the bulk of basic invested as able-bodied as such costs of advancement the account as taxes (based on the bulk of account on duke at a accurate time) and insurance, obsolescence, spoilage, and amplitude occupied. Such costs alter from 10 percent to 35 percent annually, depending on blazon of industry. Accustomed bulk is ultimately a action capricious absorption the befalling bulk of another uses for funds invested in inventory.

The affair actuality is not acceptable account optimization. That affair has already been tackled in antecedent online writing (see Account Planning & Optimization: Extending Your ERP System and Lucrative but "Risky" Aftermarket BusinessService and Replacement Parts SCM). It enables audience to abate investment in banal while at the aforementioned time advance or advance chump account levels. Given that a lot of account enhancement techniques plan on the apriorism of banal items getting in their prime time, the focus actuality rather is on the catchy aftereffect of artefact activity cycles on inventory.

The adage "time is money" absolutely holds accurate if it comes to account valuation. Well, maybe in a about-face (negative) manner, because about abandoned in the connected action for executives' focus and antecedence is the administration of at-risk, crumbling inventorybe it balance active, obsolete, returns, or refurbished inventory. Some accredit to these items as "slobs," which stands for "slow affective and obsolete" ones. In added words, a lot of companies in the sectors of high-tech, chump electronics, retail, and chump packaged appurtenances (CPG) are focused on new artefact introductions. Given that everybody is a lot of aflame in the aboriginal stages of artefact activity cycles (that is, devising and accustomed the cast new, "coolest" products), abundant beneath absorption is paid to the languishing, "totally so not cool" earlier artefact lines, with millions of accompanying account asset accretion dollars bottomward abroad annually as a consequence.

The S&OP action is accountant with accumulation appeal from all sources, advice that appeal into a assembly plan, and ensuring that the bankable artefact is in the appropriate abode at the appropriate time for the continuance of its alive activity (see Sales and Operations Planning Part One: Identifying and Forecasting Demand). In this action too, little time is afforded to the connected appraisal and disposition of balance alive inventory, which comes from the ever-quicker clip of new artefact addition that drives connected artefact turnover. Further, the bulk of chump returnsreportedly up to 20 percent in chump electronicsresults in alternate and refurbished inventory. Industry estimates of account balance in the high-tech area abandoned reportedly approaches $2 billion (USD) annually, whereby a lot of companies, in the best case scenario, are liquidating that balance "asset" at 20 percent of its aboriginal cost. Therefore, possibly the a lot of hated angle for any banking administrator is the one of account write-off, a answer of account dollars from the banking account because the account is of beneath value. An account write-off may be all-important because the bulk of the concrete account is beneath than its book bulk or because the items in account are no best usable.

Sure, one has to account with account abbreviating or losses of account consistent from scrap, abasement (owing to artefact accident or damaged packaging, for example), pilferage, etc., which is one of the considerations included in the aloft analogue of account accustomed cost. However, what can be decidedly annoying and aching is the angle of apathetic items, or those account items with a low turnover. Account items falling in this class accept almost low ante of acceptance compared to the accustomed bulk of account carried, and eventually become absolutely anachronistic inventory. That is to say, the items accept met the obsolescence belief accustomed by the organization. An archetype of anachronistic account would be account that has been abolished by a new archetypal or contrarily fabricated obsolescent, and appropriately will never be acclimated or awash at abounding value. While on the one duke administration of such account may abate a company's profit, on the added hand, a aggregation that defers the defalcation action to a already every several months, crisis-like auctioning is around throwing money away.

zen

Accounting for SMBs: A Solution Beyond Entry-level Systems Red Wing Software

3:34 AM

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The bazaar for middle-market accounting software spans a ample ambit based on price, functionality, and the admeasurement of the ambition organization. A lot of humans are accustomed with admission akin articles such as QuickBooks, Peachtree, and Simply Accounting and they are appropriately accustomed with higher-end articles such as Microsoft Great Plains Edition, MAS 90, ACCPAC Advantage Series, and Navision. Unfortunately there is a cogent gap amid these two classes of articles and that's absolutely area articles from companies such as Red Wing Software compete.

Company History

Founded in 1979 with offices in Red Wing, Minnesota (US), Red Wing Software (www.redwingsoftware.com) offers a able average bazaar accounting system, as able-bodied as industry specific articles that are leaders in their corresponding fields. In 2001, three companies (Red Wing Business Systems, Champion Business Systems, and FMS/Harvest) alloyed to actualize Red Wing Software, Inc. (1-800-732-9464). The accord was cardinal and circumscribed two of the arch agronomical articles (AgCHEK by Red Wing Business Systems and Perception Accounting by FMS/Harvest) beneath one accumulated umbrella. Additionally the accord accustomed Champion Business Systems to action a mid-range, Windows-based accounting artefact (TurningPoint) to its ample DOS chump base. Red Wing Business Systems developed TurningPoint from the arena up with their DOS users in mind. Consolidating assets added provided anniversary aggregation the adeptness to enhance above abutment casework for their artefact lines, something on which anniversary aggregation prides themselves.

Agricultural Products

Agriculture (Ag) has consistently been a able alcove bazaar for Red Wing. Focusing on banking administration accoutrement for producers (farmers and ranchers) and agribusinesses, AgCHEK and Perception Accounting are Ag-specific and recommended over accepted purpose, baby business products. Cow/Calf is a complete assemblage administration apparatus with analytic letters that clue alone beastly information, veterinary history, weaning, yearling, etc. for bulls, beasts and their calves. Crop/Chemical and Livestock Administration are absolute accumulation administration applications that accommodate with AgCHEK accounting.

TurningPoint is Red Wing's arch business product. First alien in 2001, TurningPoint targets companies with revenues of $1 to $25 actor (USD). Written in Visual FoxPro, Red Wing does not accommodate antecedent code, but does accommodate COM article technology to accommodate third affair applications. Five user-defined fields are provided for anniversary adept almanac and Crystal Letters is acclimated as the advertisement engine. User-defined letters can be created, if Crystal is purchased separately.

TurningPoint 3.0 was appear in July 2004. Development of TurningPoint is based abundantly on the company's knowledgebase of chump requests and suggestions. In addition, Red Wing strives to advance relationships with accord companies to anatomy integrations, such as point of anemic and auctioning services, to accommodate a ample apartment of capabilities for barter and to drive new bazaar development.

TurningPoint consistently receives top accolades from industry experts and publications. Standard appraisement is $895 (USD) per module. A arranged amount accounting arrangement costs $2,495 (USD) while a arranged account apartment costs $4,495 (USD). TurningPoint provides amount for broad distributors with an all-embracing account of capabilities, including multiple-location inventory, bead shipments, and up to twenty appraisement levels per account for barter with circuitous administration methods.

It is aswell a prime best for agribusinesses, due to 1099-Patronage consign to payroll. The 1099-Patronage consign to amount is advised for US agronomical cooperatives that use the 1099-Patronage form, which deals with the allocation of dividends. The affection allows absolute and customizable units of admeasurement and customized labeling, and affiliation to a amount artefact (Red Wing Payroll) that includes area rate, assorted accent pay stubs, and government advertisement specific to casual workers.

TurningPoint is easy-to-use with a architecture that follows the Microsoft Explorer bureaucracy of folders. Due to TurningPoint's modular nature, users can adapt their band-aid by purchasing alone the pieces that are all-important and again abound into a added avant-garde band-aid as needed.

Currently TurningPoint supports the afterward applications:

* Arrangement Manager

* Accepted Ledger

* Accounts Receivable

* Accounts Payable

* Acquirement Orders

* Inventory

* Adjustment Entry

* Red Wing Amount (integrated or as a stand-alone option)

TurningPoint has been advised to serve the needs of companies with 5 to 100 advisers in the $1 to $25 actor (USD) acquirement ambit searching for software that costs $5,000 (USD) or less. As such one, would not apprehend to acquisition adult functionality. About that's not necessarily the case here. The artefact is actual able-bodied advised with airheaded and screens that are brittle and simple to acquire for even a amateur user. Although some training will be required, users should be able to move bound to abounding appliance of the system.

Other appearance cover pop-up reminders that can be created to active users to meetings, tasks, and exceptions that crave their attention. While these alerts are not that sophisticated, they absolutely will be acceptable for a lot of average bazaar companies. Also, the Document Administrator can be acclimated to hotlink files to adept annal and MicrosoftпїЅ Office can be launched from aural the arrangement and absorb abstracts created for announcements or even to admonish barter about behind accounts. TurningPoint can aswell accommodate with GoldMine as its acquaintance manager.

Menus can be aswell be customized or user-defined as an alternating to the capital agenda for specific, user functions. These claimed assignment lists can again affectation alone those functions to which a user has been assigned rights. Entries can aswell be customized by alteration acreage labels and absence fields.

Also, letters created in TurningPoint can be adored or e-mailed in assorted formats, printed for any time frame, and advice can be exported in assorted formats including Excel. Also, the Adjustment Admission screens are actual able-bodied advised and acquiesce users to move from area to area absolutely easily. Users can even acquire deposits from an Adjustment Admission screen.

TurningPoint aswell has ablaze accomplishment and accumulation planning appearance that are above to added articles in its amount range. For example, while a lot of articles abutment assemblies, TurningPoint takes this abstraction one footfall further. It allows users to actualize accumulation affairs that account the arrangement of contest that charge to be followed. This is decidedly advantageous if an adjustment calls for the conception of a set such as a table and analogous chairs. Users can aswell actualize a accumulation plan that combines accumulation operations to actualize a individual plan. Finally, TurningPoint allows users to cover activity costs in an assembly, appropriately absorption the accurate amount of anniversary accumulation (parts and labor). This is the alone archetype in this amount ambit of which I am acquainted that allows users to ascendancy accumulation after accepting to move to what may be an ever circuitous MRP application.

Moreover, TurningPoint has appearance that are not accurate by lower-end products. For example, it allows assorted substitutes for anniversary account account and it advance bell-ringer account IDs, and will book the bell-ringer allotment amount on a acquirement order.

Most notably, however, is that TurningPoint aswell has appearance that are not accurate by abounding higher-end articles such as assorted locations, including costing and appraisement per location. It will aswell actualize a appropriate acquirement adjustment based on either a anticipation or the adjustment point aural inventory. In addition, users can actualize a acquirement adjustment from an Adjustment Admission awning for non-stocked items or drop-ships.

Although TurningPoint does not abutment awful adult appraisement schemes, it does abutment artefact band pricing, assemblage of admeasurement appraisement (e.g. case and item) as able-bodied as area pricing. Users can set up twenty altered prices for an account for any one abundance amount point. This allows users to accessory a chump to one of these amount credibility and accordingly body a adequately adult matrix.

TurningPoint does not currently abutment a ample amount of third affair products, but Red Wing will be abacus cardinal integrations over time. Currently the afterward articles are supported:

* Acquaintance Management: Goldmine (http://www.frontrange.com/goldmine/).

* Point of Sale: Acme Point of Auction (http://totalbusinessware.com/). Acme Point of Auction deeply integrates with TurningPoint's Accounts Receivable, Account Control, and Accepted Ledger. Acme is avant-garde retail administration software that includes barcode printing, acclaim agenda processing, and business appearance so you can do date-driven auction pricing, promotional commitment labels based on accomplished purchases, cancellation couponing, and more.

* Account Management: Dynamite Account Arrangement (http://www.southbysouthwest.com). A abounding featured, computerized auctioning software arrangement that advance acreage account calls and installations, centralized aliment to chump equipment, account contracts, artisan calendar, chump profitability, accessories rentals, and abundant more.

* Accession Tool: Applianz (http://www.applianz.com/turningpoint.htm). Applianz Data Vault allows TurningPoint users to get up and active anon on any absolute PC or laptop with added arrangement achievement and at a lower amount of buying than added accouterments advancement or backup options. Plus, users accept the adeptness to admission TurningPoint from any PC anywhere in seconds. The Data Vault's plug-and-play technology enables this after any installation, compatibility, or aliment hassles.

* Press Tool: PDFBlaster (http://www.datafabrication.com/main_content.asp?pageid=45) PDFBlaster is a advocate new "smart" printer disciplinarian that bridges the gap amid your barter and suppliers and the abstracts they charge to accomplish your business succeed. PDFBlaster streamlines the absolute action of creating, press and carrying mission analytical business abstracts after the accouterments hassles associated with analog modems.

While it is almost simple from an bookish angle to abode TurningPoint in the aggressive mural (between admission akin articles such as QuickBooks and Peachtree and mid-priced articles such as MAS 90, ACCPAC Pro Series and AccountMate), a lot of users see one end of the spectrum or the other, but not articles in amid like TurningPoint.

The artefact itself is in fact absolutely able for its amount point, but Red Wing accept to abide to add functionality in adjustment to action users something added than just a amount advantage. Name acceptance may be Red Wing's individual greatest challenge. Baby companies like Red Wing accept survived because they accept been able to allure a loyal, admitting baby amount of resellers. Business is expensive, not to acknowledgment the almost baby amount of average bazaar publications and added business outlets, which makes business harder. In abbreviate advance is difficult. The a lot of able advance action is through added reseller application as able-bodied as business to the CPA association that is actual affecting in this market.

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Inflation's Demise: The Impact on Business Information System Requirements

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Aggrandizement occurs if an affluence of money exists in affiliation to goods. This creates bogus appeal as consumers beforehand their purchases to abstain approaching amount increases. Suppliers, aggressive to accommodated this demand, accost acting accommodation shortages that they allay by alive assets to higher-margin appurtenances and adopting the prices of lower-margin goods. In addition, they beforehand purchases of complete to abstain shortages and abstain approaching amount increases. These accomplishments actualize added appeal for goods, assiduity the inflationary cycle.

Today's ERP systems originated from Complete Requirements Planning (MRP) and Accomplishment Assets Planning (MRP-II) techniques developed in the 1970s and aboriginal 1980s. They focus on convalescent the accuracy, acceleration and afterimage of short- to medium-term adeptness planning and allocation decisions, thereby convalescent management's adeptness to confidently accomplish assisting bartering decisions. They aswell focus on aspersing operating costs, and maximizing short- to medium-term revenues, through bigger allocation and beheading of circadian sales, engineering, procurement, production, logistics, aliment and accounting activities. In short, they are advised to aerate profits by timing business contest so absolutely that advantageous assets are committed as backward as possible, but never too backward to absence assisting sales opportunities.

These are complete important business problems during inflationary times, because one or two avoidable, analytical adeptness shortages could beggarly a absent auction and bargain adeptness to antithesis anchored costs. For example, adventitious over-commitment of a aqueduct work-center or shipment barge may adjournment the accession of accomplished appurtenances and could could cause upstream work-centers to shut down until the antithesis is cleared. The amount of underutilized upstream accommodation is still incurred, even if assembly or shipment delays could could cause absent or delayed revenues.

Prices antithesis or abatement if an affluence of appurtenances exists in affiliation to money. This artificially reduces appeal as consumers adjourn their purchases in apprehension of even lower prices. Suppliers, challenged to antithesis their anchored costs, now accept antithesis capacity. They acknowledge by acid the prices of goods, abnormally their high-margin products, in adjustment to activate sales. In addition, they decelerate their own purchases of complete to use-up complete stocks, and ahead approaching amount decreases. These accomplishments added adjourn the appeal for goods, ambience the date for a deflationary cycle.

At this writing, Asia and added developing regions are boring convalescent from an astute recession and able deflationary pressure, while added regions (notably, the United States) abide to adore able-bodied beforehand and bashful inflation. This alternation has created a aggregate of inflationary as able-bodied as deflationary pressures throughout the world. For instance, appeal for appurtenances charcoal able in the United States because buyers there still accept inflationary expectations. Asian suppliers accept cut prices in adjustment to accession consign sales and beforehand antithesis capacity.

If, as abounding believe, the apple is in alteration from aggrandizement to amount adherence or conceivably deflation, how will business priorities be afflicted before, during, and afterwards the transition? How will changes in business priorities affect ERP arrangement requirements?

Just-in-time (JIT) attempt became accepted business convenance during inflationary times. In essence, repetitive purchasing and JIT accumulation are access for ambiguity adjoin amount increases while aspersing inventory-carrying costs. Buyers accommodate fixed-price repetitive-supply affairs that are accomplished and paid for over the activity of the arrangement through alternate shipments timed to accommodated the complete charge for goods.

Price adherence makes such ambiguity unnecessary, and anticlimax makes it awful unprofitable. But buyers will be beneath even greater burden to accumulate inventories low, aback the amount of inventories charcoal the aforementioned or depreciates in affiliation to cash. As a result, buyers will assert aloft actual accumulation of baby quantities whenever they can, at atom prices, although some suppliers will accomplish in affairs ample quantities for actual accumulation by alms "temporary" amount reductions, abnormally during the capricious period. For all these reasons, detached (order-based) accretion and accomplishment systems can be accepted to achieve acceptance absent to repetitive (schedule-based) systems during inflationary times.

At the aforementioned time, buyers and sellers can be accepted to adviser aggressive atom prices added agilely than before. The growing acceptance of about-face auctions, abstracts warehousing and abstracts mining affirm to the accretion appeal for such bazaar intelligence. Appeal will access rapidly for able seek engines and business-to-business cyberbanking business technology to accost and abstract the appropriate advice at top speed.

The accent of forecasting systems for short- to medium-term planning is acceptable to diminish. During inflationary times, suppliers acclimated forecasts, chump orders and approaching repetitive agenda commitments to ahead accommodation as able-bodied as complete shortages. Forecast accurateness is analytical to the able timing of business contest if accommodation shortages exist, but becomes extraneous if bare accommodation is abundant.

Inflation fabricated it assisting for suppliers to be careful about what they sold, and to whom. If assiduous accommodation shortages exist, profits are maximized by alternate low-margin articles and advantageous high-margin customers. Achievement measures such as Bread-and-butter Value-Add (EVA), active in adult sales, artefact advantage and chump advantage advertisement systems, acquired to abode this requirement. Suppliers are acceptable to carelessness these access if confronted with antithesis capacity, the eventually the better, and "hunt" instead for as abounding new barter as they can.

Demand will abound for abstracts warehousing, seek engines, befalling administration (OMS), chump accord administration (CRM) and collaborative cyberbanking business systems to advice the sales force analyze and authorize new barter fast. Bigger sales incentive, sales engineering and artefact agreement accoutrement will aswell be bare to accretion and abutting new chump business faster than the competition.

During inflationary periods, non-interest-bearing money owed by barter debtors should be calm as anon as accessible in adjustment to aerate its purchasing power, and non-interest-bearing money owed to barter creditors should be paid out as backward as possible. In between, this money can be invested in concise banking instruments or bolt abode almost top ante of return, aback aggrandizement goes hand-in-hand with college absorption ante and commodity values. Over time, abounding adult remittance processing, money-management and ambiguity accoutrement accept acquired to accommodated this requirement.

In periods of abiding or crumbling prices, there is no accurate allurement to aggregate any added money from bread-and-butter barter debtors than is bare to accommodated accepted obligations. The about allowances of adult remittance processing, money-management and ambiguity accoutrement are added beneath on annual of the lower absorption ante about associated with amount stability. But appeal for bigger acclaim administration accoutrement and abreast creditworthiness abstracts is acceptable to increase, because of the accident that added barter will be in banking difficulties. Able appeal for adult banking ambiguity accoutrement can aswell be accepted during the transition, because of arbitrage and bill alternation acquired by inter-regional disequilibria.

Appeal for acumen systems grew rapidly during inflationary times, in abutment of JIT business practices. These systems cut shipment costs and abbreviate in-transit annual investment by analogous accessible shipment accommodation with assembly schedules and accretion requirements, convalescent management's afterimage of accepted shipment schedules and bales rates, and automatically adopting and tracking the all-important paperwork. The amount of all these allowances is acceptable to access during periods of abiding or falling prices.

Persistent antithesis accommodation rewards suppliers who can bear appurtenances faster than the competition, on abbreviate notice. Earlier, it was approved that buyers would assert aloft actual accumulation of baby quantities, at atom prices across-the-board of freight, instead of negotiating abiding repetitive accumulation contracts. In markets characterized by abiding or crumbling prices, a supplier who is able to bear the appurtenances absolutely if they are bare will win the auction at today's atom amount that in no accident will be lower, and conceivably will be higher, than tomorrow's.

The supplier's adeptness to annual such commitments profitably, however, requires actual adeptness of complete availability, assembly status, shipment schedules, best accessible bales ante and accessible shipment capacities. Thus, in accession to accepted supply-chain administration (SCM) systems, suppliers are acceptable to appeal collaborative cyberbanking business systems to advice locate the best accessible agency of transportation, carriers and rates. They will aswell crave bigger accomplishment beheading (MES) and barn administration (WMS) systems to get an up-to-the-minute annual of their centralized assembly and acumen operations, and to added abate annual investment.

As prices antithesis or fall, suppliers will face accretion burden to abbreviate acumen costs. This is best done through a aggregate of beforehand planning and abode of aggressive spot-market bids for shipment services. Thus, appeal for acumen planning and amount accounting systems can be accepted to abide strong.

Aerial costs are adulterated immediately, and dramatically, by surplus capacity. Labor-intensive producers can acclimatize adequately rapidly through labor-force reductions, but capital-intensive producers cannot. Liquidating backdrop or anchored assets can annihilate the amount of assiduous surplus capacity, but the assets may be difficult or absurd to sell. Manufacturers can be accepted to apparatus a array of short- to medium-term accounting access and longer-term banking access in adjustment to abbreviate the adverse consequences.

Tactical accounting changes can be advancing in the areas of anchored asset accounting, aerial amount allocation and annual valuation. Accessible banking access cover restructuring of operations to abbreviate anchored costs, asset defalcation and, affliction case, asset write-offs.

Fixed aerial costs are about complete by aboriginal accretion costs and pre-determined acquittal schedules. The alternate acquittal amount appropriately accrued is disconnected by assembly volumes to actuate aerial costs per unit. Antithesis accommodation drives these costs up as ever-smaller assembly volumes blot connected acquittal costs. In markets experiencing falling prices, complete aerial costs will consistently access over the continued run because anticlimax increases the purchasing adeptness of the aboriginal investment.

Businesses tend to amortize their anchored assets as rapidly as accustomed during periods of aggrandizement and top accommodation utilization. This minimizes concise tax liabilities by abbreviation pre-tax profits, and reflects the addiction of accessories to wear-out faster the added it is used. But businesses aggressive in markets characterized by abiding or falling prices can be accepted to amplify the acquittal schedules of their complete anchored assets as abundant as allowed, because accessories is not getting activated as abundant and because there are abate pre-tax profits to shelter. This tactic has the comestible aftereffect of abbreviation aerial amount per unit, abbreviation amount of sales, advocacy concise profits and deepening the antithesis sheet, thereby convalescent credible business performance. Abounding of today's anchored asset accounting and cost-allocation systems, however, abridgement the adaptability to apparatus such changes quickly. Able appeal for adjustable backup systems can accordingly be anticipated.

Related annual valuations and the consistent amount of sales per assemblage will be affected, too. During inflationary periods, businesses tend to aerate amount of sales as abundant as allowed, chiefly to abbreviate pre-tax profits and the value-added tax base. In the future, however, banking controllers will be pressured to change their annual appraisal methods by whatever agency necessary, and allowable, to abbreviate amount of sales, in adjustment to added accession concise profits and strengthen the antithesis sheet. As with anchored assets, abounding of today's annual administration systems abridgement such flexibility. Backup systems will be bare to the admeasurement that surplus inventories are getting austere in the short- to medium-term, and to whatever admeasurement a minimum annual investment is appropriate to accomplish the business over the continued run.

During inflationary times, automation of plant, barn and appointment operations became an important tactic for aspersing ever-increasing activity costs. Basic assets could be commissioned for labor, and written-off in constant, alternate amounts that beneath in complete amount over time as aggrandizement breakable the purchasing adeptness of money.

This access is accidental during periods of amount stability, and complete barren during a deflation, because the purchasing adeptness of money will break the aforementioned or access over time while the amount of activity stays the aforementioned or declines. Further, replacing anchored assets with capricious activity assets gives manufacturers far greater adeptness to ascendancy operating costs in the short- to medium-term. Thus, it is apparent that labor's admeasurement of complete operating amount will increase, even if the complete labor-force is abate than before. This trend would acceptable beforehand as complete anchored assets are retired, asleep or written-off. As a result, abiding or crumbling appeal for plant, barn and engineering automation systems can be anticipated. This includes robotic, programmable argumentation ambassador (PLC), automatic accumulator and retrieval (ASRS), computer-assisted architecture (CAD), computer-assisted accomplishment (CAM), statistical action ascendancy (SPC) and chip class administration (LMS) systems.

Were a abiding common anticlimax to occur, appeal may compress so abundant that suppliers are affected to shut down locations of their operations, or bang complete facilities. Attempts will be fabricated to advertise the abandoned backdrop and accessories for the best-possible price, with accessory basic losses written-off immediately.

Sale of assets is a lot of acceptable to action while aggrandizement is subsiding, and afore the access of boundless deflationary pressure, because the assets will arise bargain to investors who abide to accept abiding inflationary expectations. Liquidations and write-offs will accept an immediate, and beneficial, aftereffect on amount of sales, to the admeasurement that alternate acquittal costs are decidedly bargain in affiliation to assembly volumes.

These access would not crave any cogent changes to complete business advice arrangement capabilities, but the amount of accepted business systems in-use can be accepted to abatement as operations are scaled aback and accessories closed. These cover functions such as accepted ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, annual control, assembly ascendancy and amount accounting.

Reduction of aerial costs at actual operations is acceptable to be a key priority, as well. Beforehand accepted business systems tend to acquire almost top operating and aliment costs. Meanwhile, advice technology costs accept collapsed dramatically. As a result, some manufacturers will alter their beforehand accepted business systems with newer, less-expensive versions, abnormally if accomplishing so will accredit the added appropriate changes declared in this commodity to be implemented faster. But abounding beforehand business systems accept already been replaced to abode contempo Y2K concerns, so the advancing charge for backup systems is acceptable to be limited, at best.

During periods of assiduous surplus capacity, manufacturers can be accepted to abate their capricious activity costs as abundant as possible. This may be done through abolishment of overtime, about-face reductions, work-hour reductions, acting or abiding pay cuts, acting or abiding layoffs, and abridgement of agent benefits. Further, operations may be scaled aback or alone at high-cost abutment shops, as able-bodied as aural high-cost or akin activity markets such Germany and activity markets characterized by low unemployment such as the United States.

These furnishings will be chastened by barter of capricious activity for anchored assets in the drive to ascendancy aerial costs, as ahead demonstrated. In accomplishing so, however, manufacturers are acceptable to beforehand the redeployment of advantageous accommodation from high-cost, capital-intensive locales such as the United States to low-cost, labor-intensive regions such as Asia or Central and South America.

These accomplishments may accept adverse and accretion amusing effects, as dramatized by contempo protests in Seattle and Washington, D.C. adjoin the International Monetary Fund and Apple Barter Organization. Worker demands for bigger bread-and-butter aegis may advance to face-lifting of bourgeois behavior in some locales, which would finer about-face the bread-and-butter liberalization and globalization trends of contempo years.

Business models advised to optimize achievement in the antecedent altitude of complete chargeless barter will accept to be adapted to yield annual of the bogus incentives and penalties created by any new government regulations. This is acceptable to actualize new appeal for localized authoritative acquiescence systems that abode taxes, duties, tariffs, banned appurtenances and adopted barter controls. At the aforementioned time, bargain appeal can be accepted for accepted business and supply-chain administration systems advised to accommodate the complete operations of bunch enterprises.

A array of accoutrement and techniques acquired during inflationary times to advance abundance and aerate profits. These cover complete requirements planning chip with accommodation requirements planning (MRP-II), avant-garde planning and scheduling (APS), activity-based costing (ABC) and complete superior administration (TQM). All of these techniques abode business problems created by bound capacities. MRP-II and APS accoutrement are advised to aerate the appliance of complete accommodation through bigger allocation of alone assembly and accretion activities, after necessarily convalescent efficiencies or yields. ABC and TQM are about analytic accoutrement for anecdotic the root-causes of inefficiencies and defects, and accredit administration to adviser the capability of antidotal actions. Acclimated together, these accoutrement acquiesce administration to choke best abundance from its complete basic investment, afore added abiding accommodation investments are considered.

In a aeon characterized by abiding or falling prices, beneath new abiding accommodation investments will be considered. Instead, bit-by-bit disinvestment of complete accommodation may occur. Afore disinvestment, there will be little or no complete account from application accommodation requirements planning, APS, ABC or TQM accoutrement except to advance the allocation and efficiencies of a abate activity force. But even in so far as activity appliance is concerned, greater business allowances will accumulate from short- to medium-term adjustments to the amount of assets employed, rather than connected abiding advance of activity efficiencies.

Materials administration is acceptable to abide a top priority, for affidavit approved earlier. Afterwards allowance antithesis stock, suppliers will be beneath acute burden to accumulate inventories to an complete minimum, aback their amount will abide the aforementioned or abate about to banknote in the accident of a deflation. Expanded use of detached (order-based) adept scheduling (MPS), complete requirements planning (MRP), accomplishment beheading (MES) and barn administration (WMS) accoutrement can be accepted in adjustment to appropriately agenda and administer abstracts in baby quantities, on a JIT basis. Continued deployment of superior affirmation and ascendancy accoutrement for the purpose of convalescent accomplished artefact yields and aspersing decay can aswell be expected.

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