Today there is more than a chance that the manager responsible for operations or supply chain you meet would be interested in Kanban, Just-in-Time(JIT) or ‘Stockless’ operations. He is keen to learn about the system or formula to implement it in their work space. The driver of such a quest is the business manager's goal of reducing the costly inventory.
One approach is to reduce order sizes (batch quantities for an hour of operations or typically for a day) and request supplies at intervals to maintain continuity. It will work quite fine, if the supplier’s logistics is 100% on-time and supply quality is 100% reliable. Slippage in either or both can cause major disruptions by partial or complete non-availability. It causes shortages and delays. Usually the entire productive set-up including the workforce goes idle due to such disruptions. The cost of production escalates to very unacceptable levels. Poor quality is a more frequent cause of such disruptions, hence reliable supply quality is most critical for the success of JIT.
For reliable quality good enough for efficient JIT operations, product design, competent suppliers, all-round training, process control, packaging and handling, as well as logistics have to be of the highest standard. It takes years to realize. There is no quick fix.