3.2.2. Ordering

Making accurate orders affected the amount of waste. The employees considered that placing correct orders was the foundation of having low levels of waste. Orders were placed on a daily basis, and even though all members in the FV department could do so, it was usually one of the most experienced employees who did it. To order the right quantity, the employees needed to consider up to ten different factors before making an order, as illustrated in Figure 3. Initially, the employees checked the department, warehouse and cooling area to make an inventory of the stock. The stores had a digital ordering tool that took into account how much of an item was in stock as well as sales statistics from the corresponding period of the previous year, and based on that, suggested the quantity to order. Due to thefts and errors from the self-scanning, the employees still had to verify the balance of certain items. Additionally, the employees needed to take into account campaigns, the weather forecast, paydays and public holidays, since different occurrences affected customers' demands. The employees also considered if the product had any replacement products; for instance, if the sweet peppers in bulk would go out of stock, there should be packaged sweet peppers to buy instead. The last factor to consider was to check who was going to work the following day, since regular and experienced personnel could handle large deliveries more easily.
