量が多いときほど早く

東京はお盆の需要期を迎えた。梅雨明けとも思える天気が続き、露地物はだいぶ傷んでしまっている。特に仏花用の小菊やリヤトリスなどは少なく、今日から高値で推移している。また九州地方の大雨が出荷間際のホオズキに少なからず影響を与えていることは気懸かりだ。作るに天候、売るに天候ゆえ予定した通りにはいかないのが花の商いである。

今期の東京の盆需要では今日が最高の入荷量だが、入荷が多くなると到着時刻も遅くなる。産地を出発する時刻がいずれも遅れたという。これはあってはならないことで、当社では日曜日15時から多数の社員が出勤し荷受け荷捌きをしており、地下の定温倉庫や場内の卸売場、新物流棟でも空調をして鮮度保持に努めている。よって日曜日中に殆どを受ける準備が整っているにもかかわらず、それが深夜から3時の間に集中するのは、結局取扱量が制限されることになりかねない。ミスをしないよう丁寧に作業をしたいところだが、セリ時間に間に合わなければならず、ジレンマに陥ってしまう結果となる。入荷が分散されていれば効率よく作業でき、ミスも起きようもない。これは当社だけのことではあるまい。トヨタを始めコンビニ業界でも当たり前になっているジャスト・イン・タイムの手法を真剣になって考えないと、卸売市場の取引は世の中から取り残されるであろう。

Problem of Late Arrival of ShipmentsIt seems the end of the rainy season as an extremely hot day comes everyday and we have already had a great demand of Bon(admiring ancestors). This has caused damages to outside products. Especially the prices of blazing-stars and chrysanthemums for offering ancestors are remained high. What is more, Chinese-lantern plants, which had been just before shipment, were influenced by the heavy rain in Kyushu region. All aspects of flower business depend on weather. Things do not go as expected.

We had the most shipments today during this Bon-period. Generally speaking, the arrival of shipments tends to be delayed when we receive more products than usual on special days like Bon-period and Higan-period. The arrival was delayed, today, for the departure was delayed. This should not happen. Many of staff in our company came to the market to receive products and get ready for an auction keeping them cool in a cellar or a warehouse. In spite of such efforts and the fact that we all are ready to receive shipments, we are troubled by plenty of shipments. Why? It is because the shipments crowds between 0.00am - 3.00am. This can limit the amount that we can deal with. When mountains of shipments surge at one time, we are caught in a dilemma. We have to hurry up to be in time for the auction, however, deal with products carefully to avoid any mistakes. If shipments arrive as scheduled, we can effectively sort them out. It is time to consider the Just-In-Time which Toyota and convenience stores are carrying out. Otherwise, wholesale dealers would be out of date.

2001/07/09 磯村信夫