until the mid-2000s. Ultrafit was a typical batch manufacturing company where machinery required to complete the process wa located in different areas of the plant, e.g. tube bending in the bending department, tube-end sizing in the end finishing department, and welding of brackets and flanges to tubes in the welding department produced parts in batch quantities. In some case orders were batched together for two-week periods or longer to be run during the same set-up. This practice created a need for higher levels of finished goods inventory to create a safety stock of parts and prevent shortages at shipping, resulting in: