My cat is not happy with my just-in-time inventory method. He has decided it makes more sense for him to give me now a visual cue when it is time to fill his bowl. What he’s trying to do is tell me what the actual reorder point is. He added his best friend “mouse” to help. As you can see, “mouse” is colorful and you can’t miss the visual.

After studying a lot of supply chain methods, he came up with another method of giving me an indicator that it is time to replenish. It is a howl starting at 3:00 a.m. If that does not get my attention, then he gives me another clue that there’s a bottleneck in the process: me. He will jump on my chest and stare at me until I take care of the task. Somewhat reminiscent of staff looking for the next box of equipment to work on in an assembly line.

Now you might be wondering why I don’t fill the bowl before I go to bed. I do check, but sometimes consumption occurs when I don’t expect it. And he runs out. Does this sound familiar?

Please note that the mouse was his idea, not mine. He also started to do a form of sign language, so when his bowl is not filled. He comes up to me during the day and gives me a lip signal that food is needed.

I will leave out a few more supply chain books for him to read so he can devise different ways of signaling when he wants food.

I’ll keep you all posted.

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