By Glenn Ells
“Just in time” delivery is used by many businesses to eliminate the need to warehouse and pay for supplies before they are required to manufacture products that have been sold. When there are deadlines involved in the sale and the delivery of inputs us late, it is a very poor system.
I’ve been working for some time on updating Grist From the Mills, a community history of Sheffield Mills, first published in 1967. The update done in 1990 is out of print and our community association decided to do another update in time for this Christmas.
I signed off on the book yesterday and printing started a few minutes later. An order for paper on Nov. 30 meant that paper (from Toronto, naturally) would arrive in New Minas in the morning. It didn’t show up, so the books promised for Friday delivery won’t be ready until Dec. 12. There have been some brief – and very much to the point – phone calls made today and the paper is now on the way, but won’t arrive until early Monday.
There is a community Christmas party on Sunday and when I don’t show up with the books that have been presold, it won’t be pretty. An abundance of Christmas Spirit will be my best chance for survival. It will probably be the first time that Santa will be asked to make sure that a delivery of paper arrives on time (four days late, but at least no more).
Most years, I sow grain on my garden spot when the harvest is over so that whatever growth of the grain will help cover the soil for winter. This year, it was late when this was done because the harvest kept going on and the frost didn’t show up. I was looking at the barley growth today and it is still happening. Normally, by December, the ground would be frozen and growth would be stopped. Remember the snowstorm last year in late November? If signs of global warming keep coming, even the Republicans will start to believe. I wonder what our prime minister would say on the subject now? He has probably cut back on the funding of research that would prove some of his past statements on the subject to be very wrong.
I should wish all my readers a Merry Christmas right now in case I’m unable to write for a couple of weeks after the impending “Sunday with no books.”
