Watch Your Waste
Jul 09, 2014
I’ve seen a big craze lately on up-recycling where old clothes, or scrap pieces of materials, etc. are used to create something new. I, for one, am not very crafty and have not tried to do any of these things. I’ve seen some pretty great creations on Facebook and other sites where, often times, the new item looks much better and completely different than the item from which it was re-purposed. There are a variety of uses for scrap materials, from repurposing, selling, and disposing. I have a client that repurposes used oil from their production to heat their factory! I’m curious some of the creative repurposing you have done.
Regardless as to the fun, and not so fun, ideas for scrap, how do you control it? How do you make sure you do not have too much scrap or waste? If your scrap reporting is subpar and you are not getting reliable and/or timely information then you may be scrapping too much. If you received a bad batch of material when will you know? Maybe two months from now when you finally close the previous month and realize material costs were really high? Or maybe really never know for sure? Or will you know that week, that day, that hour?
If you have reliable methods to track your scrap, weighing, counting, etc. and reliable reporting methods for material usage, you should be able to know very quickly. However, even if you have the best information gathered, if you do not do anything with it in a timely fashion, then it is not any good to you. The most accurate information delivered two months from now will not help the usage problem you have today. Although, you will have lots leftovers to make some creative things out of, I somehow do not think that is your goal!
If you do not have a good handle on your materials, stop wasting money, start tracking it and reviewing it timely, it’s quite a waste to not!
Categories: Cost Accounting