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Paintmakers are running out of the color blue

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Re: Paintmakers are running out of the color blue

#41

Post by rumpelstilz18 »

archildress wrote: post #26

Thank you Toyota and practitioners of "lean" / "Six Sigma" that told us all about the wonders of just-in-time, to only carry exactly as much inventory was needed for demand. After all, we'd rather have that cash in a bank account than tied up in inventory. While well intentioned, the problem is that it all relies on assumptions, largely tied to demand. And when demand goes through a wild whipsaw, and everyone takes d…

"After all, we'd rather have that cash in a bank account than tied up in inventory."

The "We" includes you.

And it is inherent in our society what we add layer of layer of complexity.

Re: Paintmakers are running out of the color blue

#42

Post by snarf21 »

archildress wrote: post #26

Thank you Toyota and practitioners of "lean" / "Six Sigma" that told us all about the wonders of just-in-time, to only carry exactly as much inventory was needed for demand. After all, we'd rather have that cash in a bank account than tied up in inventory. While well intentioned, the problem is that it all relies on assumptions, largely tied to demand. And when demand goes through a wild whipsaw, and everyone takes d…

Would you be making the same statement if covid hadn't happened? I think companies realized that net net, JIT is more profitable and they'll worry about the outliers when/if they happen.

Re: Paintmakers are running out of the color blue

#43

Post by blix »

yunohn wrote: post #40
archildress wrote: post #26

Thank you Toyota and practitioners of "lean" / "Six Sigma" that told us all about the wonders of just-in-time, to only carry exactly as much inventory was needed for demand. After all, we'd rather have that cash in a bank account than tied up in inventory. While well intentioned, the problem is that it all relies on assumptions, largely tied to demand. And when demand goes through a wild whipsaw, and everyone takes d…

> Thank you Toyota and practitioners of "lean" / "Six Sigma" that told us all about the wonders of just-in-time, to only carry exactly as much inventory was needed for demand. While Toyota might have popularized the concept, it seems odd to blame them for the common-sense idea of just-in-time. It’s quite natural, normal humans also don’t hoard everything they can possibly think of needing, nor should companies. It’s…

> It’s quite natural, normal humans also don’t hoard everything they can possibly think of needing...

For most of human history we did exactly that. The deeply interconnected "JIT Consumption" world is really quite new. And if consumption patterns suddenly change then you can't buy toilet paper anymore.

Re: Paintmakers are running out of the color blue

#44

Post by philwelch »

jdlshore wrote: post #31
archildress wrote: post #26

Thank you Toyota and practitioners of "lean" / "Six Sigma" that told us all about the wonders of just-in-time, to only carry exactly as much inventory was needed for demand. After all, we'd rather have that cash in a bank account than tied up in inventory. While well intentioned, the problem is that it all relies on assumptions, largely tied to demand. And when demand goes through a wild whipsaw, and everyone takes d…

I hear this complaint frequently, and I always wonder if the people making it are well-informed about supply chain logistics or are just parroting what they’ve heard elsewhere. Because my understanding of TPS and Lean is that it solved serious issues with supply chains involving waste due to outdated and rusted (figuratively and literally) inventory. It also doesn’t prevent the use of buffers to absorb shocks, as Toy…

The problem isn't with the methodology itself but with how it's implemented in practice. Lean makes your buffers a lot more visible to management, and if you combine that with a culture of short-sighted cost-cutting, you run into issues. The problem isn't lean; it's a management culture of short-sighted cost-cutting.

Re: Paintmakers are running out of the color blue

#45

Post by londons_explore »

jawns wrote: post #29
archildress wrote: post #26

Thank you Toyota and practitioners of "lean" / "Six Sigma" that told us all about the wonders of just-in-time, to only carry exactly as much inventory was needed for demand. After all, we'd rather have that cash in a bank account than tied up in inventory. While well intentioned, the problem is that it all relies on assumptions, largely tied to demand. And when demand goes through a wild whipsaw, and everyone takes d…

I think some companies recognized that it's possible for once-in-a-generation and once-in-a-lifetime disruptive events to occur, but they crunched the numbers and decided that they could squeeze more from lean practices over the long term than they stood to lose in the disruptive events. Like, suppose you could make $X in profit that is highly resilient to infrequent disruption or twice that with the understanding th…

Few companies plan that far ahead....

You'd get the same outcome by hiring someone and telling them they get a bonus proportional to increased profits, and no bonus in bad years.

Re: Paintmakers are running out of the color blue

#46

Post by munk-a »

blix wrote: post #43
yunohn wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Thank you Toyota and practitioners of "lean" / "Six Sigma" that told us all about the wonders of just-in-time, to only carry exactly as much inventory was needed for demand. While Toyota might have popularized the concept, it seems odd to blame them for the common-sense idea of just-in-time. It’s quite natural, normal humans also don’t hoard everything they can possibly think of needing, nor should companies. It’s…

> It’s quite natural, normal humans also don’t hoard everything they can possibly think of needing... For most of human history we did exactly that. The deeply interconnected "JIT Consumption" world is really quite new. And if consumption patterns suddenly change then you can't buy toilet paper anymore.

I'd actually disagree pretty strongly with this. For most of human history the spoilage rate of pretty much everything we produced was so high that stockpiling goods for the sudden economic shocks was solely reserved to governing bodies. Remember how you built ten bazillion granaries in Civ? Sure, the game has taken quite a few liberties with history but we have evidence of communal food storage going all the way back to Babylon. When's the last time you saw a granary or any sort of food stock that was actually built and maintained by a government in the modern world?

Before the modern epoch it was really rare to personally stockpile goods due to the extreme possibilities of spoilage (everyone loves weevils and moths right?) - that's only been an option in the near history.

Re: Paintmakers are running out of the color blue

#47

Post by missinfo »

mzs wrote: post #39
jdlshore wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear this complaint frequently, and I always wonder if the people making it are well-informed about supply chain logistics or are just parroting what they’ve heard elsewhere. Because my understanding of TPS and Lean is that it solved serious issues with supply chains involving waste due to outdated and rusted (figuratively and literally) inventory. It also doesn’t prevent the use of buffers to absorb shocks, as Toy…

Here's recent supply-chain thread calling-out a current bottle neck: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1451543776992845834.html https://twitter.com/typesfast/status/1451543776992845834

That is amazing. Why is the Flexport CEO apparently the only one trying to diagnose and solve this critical problem? It's not even that hard. He lays out a relatively simple solution:

1) Executive order effective immediately over riding the zoning rules in Long Beach and Los Angeles to allow truck yards to store empty containers up to six high instead of the current limit of 2. Make it temporary for ~120 days.

This will free up tens of thousands of chassis that right now are just storing containers on wheels. Those chassis can immediately be taken to the ports to haul away the containers

2) Bring every container chassis owned by the national guard and the military anywhere in the US to the ports and loan them to the terminals for 180 days.

3) Create a new temporary container yard at a large (need 500+ acres) piece of government land adjacent to an inland rail head within 100 miles of the port complex.

4) Force the railroads to haul all containers to this new site, turn around and come back. No more 1500 mile train journeys to Dallas. We're doing 100 mile shuttles, turning around and doing it again. Truckers will go to this site to get containers instead of the port.

5) Bring in barges and small container ships and start hauling containers out of long beach to other smaller ports that aren't backed up. This is not a comprehensive list. Please add to it. We don't need to do the best ideas. We need to do ALL the ideas.

We must OVERWHELM THE BOTTLENECK and get these ports working again. I can't stress enough how bad it is for the world economy if the ports don't work. Every company selling physical goods bought or sold internationally will fail.

The circulatory system our globalized economy depends has collapsed. And thanks to the negative feedback loops involved, it's getting worse not better every day that goes by.

I'd be happy to lead this effort for the federal or state government if asked. Leadership is the missing ingredient at this point.

Re: Paintmakers are running out of the color blue

#48

Post by ozten »

tombert wrote: post #17

This is completely tangential but does anyone who has any real experience with painting done anything with the VR painting apps? I have one called PaintingVR, and I think it's cool, but I have no real experience with physical paints (always opting to use a digital drawing tablet since I was a kid). If anyone has any experience, how do you feel it compares to the real deal?

VermillionVR[1] is incredibly realistic!

I really felt like I was in that brick studio with a nicer set of equipment than I'd ever used. I guess I used easels sort of like that in college, but in the real world I didn't use such a formal setup.

The realism and sense of presence made me notice the missing haptic feedback and the lack of smell feedback (linseed oil, turpentine, etc), but the audio feedback and the physics are really great.

My experience was with Vive Pro 2 and Valve knuckles.

[1] https://vermillion-vr.com/

Re: Paintmakers are running out of the color blue

#49

Post by TomAbel »

After the 2011 Japan earthquake automakers ran into a the same problem, they ran out of a pigment called Xirallic made by Merck

>After the earthquake, automakers worldwide were forced to stop making cars of certain colors because they couldn't get the aluminum-flaked Xirallic pigment that makes the paint sparkle. Merck was making the pigment at only one plant worldwide -- its Onahama plant in the quake zone -- and kept significant stocks of the product only at the same factory. It took months to restart the plant and resume deliveries.[1]

The Verge did a really good profile of the perils of just-in-time manufacturing in respect to Apple that highlights how highly efficient JIT in reducing costs but that it ultimately leads to more fragile supply chains.[2]

>Just-in-time manufacturing is highly efficient, but it’s not resilient.This style of manufacturing cuts costs — but it also means that if the supply chain is disrupted, there will be shortages.[2]

I really like this insight

>To make a more resilient system, a lot of companies may have to rethink just-in-time manufacturing. Resilience doesn’t show up as clearly on balance sheets as cost reduction, but it’s crucial for surviving disruptive events. Lowering costs by creating economies of scale and volume looks good most of the time, but once there’s a failure, companies don’t have many options.[2]

[1]https://www.autonews.com/article/20130715/OEM10/307159926/pi... (Paywalled) Archive: https://archive.md/Yoqe2

[2]https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/13/21177024/apple-just-in-ti...

Re: Paintmakers are running out of the color blue

#50

Post by cinntaile »

archildress wrote: post #24
oasisbob wrote: post #23

> "There is one basic color tint that is extremely difficult to get" Any idea of the possible tint which is being referred to? Wondering if it's a mineral source requiring mining, heavy-metal processing, or what?

Could be Titanium Dioxide that is involved in whitening. Have seen enough from my view that this would be my guess. And what could be more basic than that. :)

You need that for every color so that the sun doesn't discolor your paint so probably not.
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