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Technology Stocks : Apple Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: yofal who wrote (22399)	1/14/1999 7:14:00 AM
From: Slide Rule	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213173

In JIT, total inventory is a general figure of merit. Say, like how many pushups a Marine can do. Systems of comparable virtue should have similar levels independent of thruput. Some watch-outs, tho... 1) Apple just sold out prior models, that's why they're going back from 2 days to 4+. Shows good transition planning. New SAP system will help 2) Dell runs far more variety, models, & options; Apple has simpler SKU structure -- sufficient to explain 4-vs-7 IMHO 3) Apple runs lines in 2-3 sites. Dell has 'em all over (I think), which would bias higher, too. 4) inventory could be counted different by the two NET, AAPL's 4-days does sound to be in same league as Dell's 7, BUT, really hard to know for sure without walking both systems and asking lotsa questions.

To: yofal who wrote (22399)	1/14/1999 8:50:00 AM
From: MeDroogies	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213173

It is comparable. It isn't like comparing how much food a 200 lb. man needs compared to a 300 lb. man. Both Dell and AAPL know the "likely" number of units to be shipped. They plan their inventory that way. It helps them arrange for storage and shipping contracts. If they can keep inventory down, they reduce storage and production costs. On the other hand, if demand suddenly zips up...they could be in a bind. Of course, that is a quasi-positive thing. If their inventory suddenly goes negative, they can use increased demand as a "reason" to keep prices higher.