Field Notes

The Night Before Christmas. A Field VMI Story

Written by Field Fastener | December 22, 2016

T’was the day before Christmas, Santa’s elves were working and filled with joy,

when hundreds of kids suddenly wrote to Santa about a new toy

 

The demand was so great, the toy was so hot,

that Santa knew he had to deliver the kids this new robot.

Demand was through the roof Santa had never seen such a fuss,

all for a toy robot that could turn into a bus

 

Santa knew he had to deliver so to keep the robot production popping

the elves worked through the night without ever stopping.

As the production shot up the parts needed to build the robot increased,

soon part bins were empty and production had ceased.

The Head Production Elf was under a lot of stress,

when he looked around and saw the production floor was just a huge mess

Wooden hammers, plastic arms and wheels scattered here and there,

buttons, bows and caps, thrown everywhere.

 

The head elf was beside himself on what to do,

the new robots needed to be finished and soon

But how anything could be built in this production mess

and without the right parts was anyone’s guess

It was mere hours before Santa would be delivering toys

to all the good girls and all the good boys

When onto the production floor Santa strolled in,

 and upon his face was just a huge grin.

He said to the Head Production Elf

“Let’s work to get this stuff off the floor and onto a shelf.”

“Last year a Field Engineer helped me out of a bind,

 let’s see what else Field can help us with this time”

Santa picked up the phone and to Field made a call,

and said to the Field VMI team “Can you help us at all?”

“Our bins are all empty and our parts are all out,

 our current supplier doesn’t have us on their scheduled delivery route”

“ They can’t make it here before I need to leave,

 I need some assistance from your Field VMI team.”

The Field VMI team knew they had to go

So off to the North Pole they headed out in the snow.

 

When the team got to the Toy Workshop they couldn’t believe their eyes

The whole production was stopped and Santa needed to say his goodbyes

After looking around and assessing the situation

The Field VMI team came up with a revelation

To Santa they explained, “Not only do you need parts, but you need a whole new system,

So when you are looking for parts for production no one will miss ‘em”

“You need to know where everything is at and how much is on its way,

So your elves can schedule production and know what’s coming in every day.”

 

“We’ll stock all your toy parts in bins that have barcoded labels

The bins will be stored on shelves and work bench tables”

We’ll collect data to make sure your inventory is just right

So you’ll have just the right amount of inventory available for production each night”

“That all sounds great, but you need to hurry” Santa Said

“It’s almost time for me to get these toys in my sled”

 

Using value stream mapping to come up with their plan then looking around

Off to work the entire VMI team went with a bound

They stocked robot parts and filled toy parts in bins with delight

And when everything was 5S’d and put in its spot, they knew it would be alright

Once again the toy workshop production line was humming with joy

And all the elves were back to work making their toys

Then robots, and yoyo’s, dolls and toy cars filled Santa’s sled

Then off to Candy Cane Lane the reindeer were lead.

As Santa got in his sleigh he couldn’t help but laugh with glee

Santa Said “You’ve saved Christmas 2 years in a row Field, how can that be?”

“Last year without you my sleigh was rotten,

And this year without you no toys would have been gotten”

“You really are more than Parts but a Partner” Santa said with delight

And as he drove away on his sleigh yelled out “Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.”

 

Author: Christy Behnke