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First in Still Here (FISH) is a term that refers to excessive and a very slow-moving inventory. The acronym (FISH) is a take-off on the FIFO (First In, First Out) and LIFO (Last In, First Out) acronyms to describe inventory cost layering systems. The concept of FISH is important to understand as it can indicate whether your business has enough money in its operating capital account or not. If the inventory on hand is too much which is not selling quickly then some of it needs to written off as obsolete or defective and you need to replace it with new items. If this inventory is left unchecked, it can lead to serious financial troubles for your company since cost is involved with old stuff sitting on the shelf. FISH is one of the Six Sigma terms used to describe the movement of products through our supply chain and this concept relies on the fact that if we are able to keep our product moving at a steady pace through our supply chain, it will increase our chances of success by preventing bottlenecks and reducing inventory costs. If a business has a large amount of FISH inventory it indicates excessive working capital has been invested due to which it poses a high risk for outdated inventory which needs to be written off. Industry Examples 1. The food industry is famous for overstocking unpreserved food items and the waste is not only financial but environmental as well. Every year around 30% of food purchased and 45% of crops harvested are wasted industry-wide and this translates to over $160 billion wasted annual in the US alone. 2. Fashion and beauty industries have a disturbing trend with increasing loss figures year over year due to unsold inventory and wasted products This is not the case with only individual companies that struggle with their inventory, it is to do with entire industries. Businesses that are Item-based are made or broken almost exclusively on the back of their inventory management practices. So to reduce the amount of First in Still Here (FISH) inventory, companies need to consider their products’ life cycles and the costs involved with keeping the product on hand as inventory and also costs associated with ordering more when needed. Challenges Some of the causes for Fish Inventory could be due to unexpected low sales, excessive inventory purchases and Poor management of materials. There are three main challenges why FISH can be harmful problem for many businesses. 1. If there is an excess amount of inventory on hand then there is a possibility the item may not be sold and may go out of date Products having long shelf lives and/or low demand or sitting on your shelf for long time are less likely to get sold at full price. 2. Poor materials management within the business itself. Over-ordering materials and/or making mistakes in purchasing decisions leading to have more than what you need for current production levels. 3. Sales are lower than expected—or that they will be. Due to unexpected low sales in future businesses will want to reduce their current stock levels in order to avoid writing off outdated product later down the line Best practices - FISH The world of business is all about staying ahead of the competition and maintaining a competitive advantage. In order to overcome the above challenges, it’s important to think about first in, still here (FISH) inventory in terms of tested and proven below best practices. 1. Consider re-evaluating your inventory management system. This practice can tell us if there is a way to reduce the amount of time it takes for products to move through our warehouse and into customers’ hands. 2. Try implementing FIFO (first in first out) policy or LIFO (last in first out) policy. This practice can enable us to minimize the overall age of our inventory at any given time. 3. Look at ways to optimize your supply chain. This can be done by working with multiple suppliers instead of just one or two so that our product flow isn’t dependent on any one supplier going down or having problems with their delivery schedule. To conclude FISH is an important concept for businesses to understand because it can have a massive impact not only on the inventory management strategy but also the overall success of the business