LO 2, AC 2.3

An inventory write-off is a process of removing from the general ledger any inventory that has no value.
Using the direct write-off method, a business will record a credit to the inventory asset account and a debit to the expense account. For example, say a company with $100,000 worth of inventory decides to write off $10,000 in inventory at the end of the year. First, the firm will credit the inventory account with the value of the write-off to reduce the balance. The value of the gross inventory will be reduced as such: $100,000 - $10,000 = $90,000. Next, the inventory write-off expense account will be increased with a debit to reflect the loss.
The expense account is reflected in the income statement, reducing the firm's net income and thus its retained earnings. A decrease in retained earnings translates into a corresponding decrease in the shareholders' equity section of the balance sheet.
If the inventory write-off is immaterial, a business will often charge the inventory write-off to the cost of goods sold (COGS) account. The problem with charging the amount to the COGS account is that it distorts the gross margin of the business, as there is no corresponding revenue entered for the sale of the product. Most inventory write-offs are small, annual expenses. A large inventory write-off (such as one caused by a warehouse fire) may be categorized as a non-recurring loss.
Reference:
- CIPS study guide page 86-90
- Inventory Write-Off
LO 2, AC 2.1

The core idea of lean manufacturing is actually quite simple...relentlessly work on eliminating waste from the manufacturing process. Waste is defined as any activity that does not add value from the customer's perspective. According to research conducted by the Lean Enterprise Research Centre (LERC), fully 60% of production activities in a typical manufacturing operation are waste - they add no value at all for the customer.
On the other hand, agile manufacturing places an extremely strong focus on rapid response to the customer - turning speed and agility into a key competitive advantage.
Reference:
LO 2, AC 2.3

A 'U' flow occurs when the goods receipt and dispatch functions are located at the same end of a warehouse building.
Products flow in at receiving, move in to storage in the back of the warehouse, and then to shipping, which is located at the adjacent to receiving on the same side of the building.
Items with higher throughput level are located closer to the loading bays. An example of a 'U' flow design can be seen in the diagram below.
Advantages of 'U' Flow
- Excellent utilization of dock resources because the receiving and shipping processes can share dock doors
- Facilitating cross-docking because the receiving and shipping docks are adjacent to one another and may be co-mingled
- Excellent lift truck utilization because put away and retrieval trips are easily combined and be-cause the storage locations closest to the receiving and shipping docks are natural locations to house fast moving items
- Yields excellent security because there is a single side of the building used for entry and exit

The normal breakdown in a manufacturing organisation would be raw materials, components, work in progress and finished goods.
Following are the different types of inventory:

Raw materials are the basic materials that a manufacturing company buys from its suppliers, and that is used by the former to convert them into the final products by applying a set of manufacturing processes. For example, aluminum scrap is the raw material for a company that produces aluminum ingots. Flour is the raw material for a company that produces bread or pizza. Similarly, metal parts and ingots are the raw materials bought by a company that manufactures cars, and crude oil is the raw material for an oil refinery.
Work in progress inventory can also be called semi-finished goods. They are the raw materials that have been taken out of the raw materials store and are now undergoing the process of their conversion into the final products. These are the partly processed raw materials lying on the production floor. And they have also not reached the stage where they have been converted into the final product.
Finished goods are indeed the final products obtained after the application of the manufacturing processes on the raw materials and the semi-finished goods discussed above in the article. They are saleable, and their sale contributes fully to the revenue from the core operations of the company.