Your PFEP Database = A Plan For Every Part

Here's an example that covers small Parts, like nuts, bolt, screws, etc.  Small Parts are delivered to their Points-of-Use in very durable plastic Containers, which are put on Racks.  There are a limited number of sizes of these Containers.  Each size Container has a name, such as "A Bin", "B Bin", "C Bin", etc.  Ideally, when a Part is needed at more than one Point-of-Use, it will always be delivered in the same size Container, with the same number of Parts per Container.  (Theoretically, this may result in a small amount of extra Parts in the factory, but those are probably small, inexpensive Parts.)  From my point-of-view, Material arrives at the Warehouse in large crates or boxes.  A large crate might contain 20 cardboard boxes that each container 1000 Parts.  That large crate might be stored in an Overflow location within the Warehouse.  As needed, the individual cardboard boxes will be moved from the Overflow location for the Part to the Secondary location for that Part.  The Secondary location holds a specific number of standard sized boxes of the Part.  PFEP calculates the size of the Secondary location based on the rate at which the Part is used, the expected replenishment times and the overall amount of inventory of material that the company wants to keep on-hand.  The Secondary location for a Part is very near the Primary location for a Part.  PFEP calculates the number of "Pack-Ahead" Containers needed for any given Part based on all of the same criteria listed above as well as the number of Points-of-Use for a specific Part and a practical limit on the number of Containers that are likely to be coming back for replenishment from the Factory during any single replenishment cycle.  The "Pack-Ahead" Containers are stored in the Primary location for the Part within the Warehouse.  When an empty Container arrives at the Warehouse from the Factory, it is filled with the contents of one of the "Pack-Ahead" Containers and returned to the factory, ASAP.  Later on, a Warehouse worker will refill the empty "Pack-Ahead" container with Parts still in cardboard boxes in the Secondary location.  If, for example, the "Pack-Ahead" containers were supposed to contain 100 Parts apiece, but the cardboard boxes in the Secondary location each held 1000 Parts, the Warehouse worker would scoop out approximately 100 Parts to do the refill.  I use the term approximately, because most companies aren't concerned about their Part inventory down to this level.  (i.e. if 102 Parts move to one Point-of-Use this time and 98 Parts move to another Point-of-Use next time, it all averages out, without having to pay a human to count individual nuts and bolts.)  Note that the Primary to Factory transition is as fast as possible, with the more time-intensive tasks of refilling the "Pack-Ahead" containers and possibly disposing of empty cardboard boxes happening later.

PFEP names and tracks the usage of these standardized Containers used for small Parts.  Likewise for larger, bulk Parts and sequenced Parts.  PFEP does not normally keep track of the crates or cardboard boxes that Parts arrive at the Warehouse in, but in some cases the PFEP process can be applied to a set of reuseable Containers that are actually returned to the Part supplier for replenishment.