day 323: Inventory Management

I have a friend who owns a small business that has been in the family for nearly 50 years. The company is successful on all fronts and has gotten there because my friend, who is the CEO and owner, decided long ago that they would not be able to compete with big guys if they tried to do the same thing, but instead, they would take a different route and become the best in the business in the things the other guys couldn't do because they were too big. What my friend determined was that his little company would be the best at real-time, or just-in-time, inventory management and customer service. If a customer wanted to order something on the spot as a custom item, my friend's business would be able to fulfill that order without hesitation while the big guys would say they couldn't do custom orders. The way his small company is able to do this, in a way that is affordable, is that they have figured out how to manage their inventory and suppliers so that they only have on hand what they need and if they need something different, they can access it within hours, not days or weeks. While this sounds like a simple and elegant way to do business, it is actually very, very hard to manage. Anyone who knows anything about inventory management knows that having the balance between what what you need and what you forecast you are going to need and being able to fulfill the needs with littlest amount of inventory on hand is both a real skill and art. I have been reflecting on the business balancing of inventory needs and the application of this to our work lives. Our lives are like managing inventory in a warehouse. We all have needs and we all have the things of life that we have to draw upon; housing, shelter, food, resources, etc. However, God wants us to manage our worries and our needs just like my friend manages his business, just-in-time and on-demand. We read in Matthew 6:31-33; "So don't worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern." What these verses say to me is that we are to let God be the Warehouse and Inventory Manager of our lives. We are supposed to let Him worry about the supply and demand and know that if we are working towards the Kingdom of God that He promises, always, that the needs will be me, just-in-time!

Reference: Matthew 6:31-33 (New Living Testament)