How pineapples handle FIFO better than many warehouses.
Imagine a small village in Panama. The sun is blazing, cicadas are singing, and at a local market stall... pineapples rule.
The seller? An old hand. He has FIFO in his blood, even though he has probably never heard that acronym.
The freshest pineapples land on the top shelf - in the shade, out of the customer's sight. Calm, silence, time for final ripening.
On the bottom shelf - the older ones: ripe, juicy, fragrant... exactly at the customer's eye level.
Coincidence? I don't think so.
A new delivery arrives. And what happens?
- the pineapples from the top shelf move down,
- the ones from the bottom shelf end up in the customer's hands,
- the new fruit jumps to the top.
The effect?
The customer buys first what arrived earlier, the pineapples do not spoil, nobody cries over losses, and the stall works like a tropical Swiss watch.
Sounds familiar?
Because that is pure FIFO - First In, First Out.
And that is exactly what IATF 16949 expects as well.
The only question is:
if a Panamanian pineapple seller can handle FIFO without procedures, Excel sheets, and training,
why do companies so often struggle with it?
Greetings from Panama.