THE ZORRILLA, THE BEST JEWEL OF TOWER OF LONDON

Today, The Morgans and The Grandma have visited the Tower of London. It has been a very special visit to get to know up close all the events that have taken place in this emblematic building in the history of England. While most of The Morgans have been taking pictures and were dazzled by the Crown Jewels, Andrea Morgan has kidnapped a striped polecat, also known as zorrilla (Ictonyx striatus), a mustelidae which lives in the tower gardens, without the Beefeaters noticing.

Hours earlier, they had studied a bit of English grammar with There is/There are and the Plural of Nouns and had been talking about different countries to visit, including Cuba, with which Sant Boi de Llobregat in particular and the Catalans and Basques in general has a lot of common links.

When they have arrived at the Cumberland, after visiting the Tower of London, they have received a pleasant surprise: MJ had sent them more material to continue their training.

More information: There is/There are

More information: Plural of Nouns 

Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separated from the eastern edge of the square mile of the City of London by the open space known as Tower Hill. 

It was founded toward the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest. The White Tower, which gives the entire castle its name, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078 and was a resented symbol of oppression, inflicted upon London by the new Norman ruling class.

The castle was also used as a prison from 1100 (Ranulf Flambard) until 1952 (Kray twins), although that was not its primary purpose. A grand palace early in its history, it served as a royal residence. As a whole, the Tower is a complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat.

There were several phases of expansion, mainly under kings Richard I, Henry III, and Edward I in the 12th and 13th centuries. The general layout established by the late 13th century remains despite later activity on the site.

Tower of London has played a prominent role in English history. It was besieged several times, and controlling it has been important to controlling the country. The Tower has served variously as an armoury, a treasury, a menagerie, the home of the Royal Mint, a public record office, and the home of the Crown Jewels of England. From the early 14th century until the reign of Charles II in the 17th century, a procession would be led from the Tower to Westminster Abbey on the coronation of a monarch. In the absence of the monarch, the Constable of the Tower is in charge of the castle. This was a powerful and trusted position in the medieval period.

In the late 15th century, the Princes in the Tower were housed at the castle when they mysteriously disappeared, presumed murdered. Under the Tudors, the Tower became used less as a royal residence, and despite attempts to refortify and repair the castle, its defences lagged behind developments to deal with artillery.

The zenith of the castle's use as a prison was the 16th and 17th centuries, when many figures who had fallen into disgrace, such as Elizabeth I before she became queen, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Elizabeth Throckmorton, were held within its walls. This use has led to the phrase sent to the Tower. Despite its enduring reputation as a place of torture and death, popularised by 16th-century religious propagandists and 19th-century writers, only seven people were executed within the Tower before the World Wars of the 20th century.

Executions were more commonly held on the notorious Tower Hill to the north of the castle, with 112 occurring there over a 400-year period. In the latter half of the 19th century, institutions such as the Royal Mint moved out of the castle to other locations, leaving many buildings empty. Anthony Salvin and John Taylor took the opportunity to restore the Tower to what was felt to be its medieval appearance, clearing out many of the vacant post-medieval structures.

In the First and Second World Wars, the Tower was again used as a prison and witnessed the executions of 12 men for espionage. After the Second World War, damage caused during the Blitz was repaired, and the castle reopened to the public. 

Today, Tower of London is one of the country's most popular tourist attractions. Under the ceremonial charge of the Constable of the Tower, operated by the Resident Governor of the Tower of London and Keeper of the Jewel House, and guarded by the Yeomen Warders, the property is cared for by the charity Historic Royal Palaces and is protected as a World Heritage Site.

More information: Tower of London

Victorious at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, the invading Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror, spent the rest of the year securing his holdings by fortifying key positions. He founded several castles along the way, but took a circuitous route toward London; only when he reached Canterbury did he turn towards England's largest city.

As the fortified bridge into London was held by Saxon troops, he decided instead to ravage Southwark before continuing his journey around southern England. A series of Norman victories along the route cut the city's supply lines and in December 1066, isolated and intimidated, its leaders yielded London without a fight.

Between 1066 and 1087, William established 36 castles,  although references in the Domesday Book indicate that many more were founded by his subordinates. The Normans undertook what has been described as the most extensive and concentrated programme of castle-building in the whole history of feudal Europe. They were multi-purpose buildings, serving as fortifications (used as a base of operations in enemy territory), centres of administration, and residences.

William sent an advance party to prepare the city for his entrance, to celebrate his victory and found a castle; in the words of William's biographer, William of Poitiers, certain fortifications were completed in the city against the restlessness of the huge and brutal populace. For he [William] realised that it was of the first importance to overawe the Londoners.

At the time, London was the largest town in England; the foundation of Westminster Abbey and the old Palace of Westminster under Edward the Confessor had marked it as a centre of governance, and with a prosperous port it was important for the Normans to establish control over the settlement. The other two castles in London -Baynard's Castle and Montfichet's Castle- were established at the same time. 

The fortification that would later become known as Tower of London was built onto the south-east corner of the Roman town walls, using them as prefabricated defences, with the River Thames providing additional protection from the south. This earliest phase of the castle would have been enclosed by a ditch and defended by a timber palisade, and probably had accommodation suitable for William.

The tradition of housing the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London probably dates from the reign of Henry III (1216-1272). The Jewel House was built specifically to house the royal regalia, including jewels, plate, and symbols of royalty such as the crown, sceptre, and sword. When money needed to be raised, the treasure could be pawned by the monarch. The treasure allowed the monarch independence from the aristocracy and consequently was closely guarded. A new position for keeper of the jewels, armouries and other things was created, which was well rewarded; in the reign of Edward III (1327-1377) the holder was paid 12d a day. The position grew to include other duties including purchasing royal jewels, gold, and silver, and appointing royal goldsmiths and jewellers.

More information: Royal Collection Trust

 

 Tower of London,

where they used to chop off your head
if the king didn't like you.

Lauren Tarshis

A DAY OF RELAXING & SHOPPING AT CAMDEN MARKETS

Today, The Winsors and The Grandma have visited Camden Town and they have enjoyed their markets.

 

Before, the family has studied some English grammar with Plural of Nouns and Prepositions of Place.

More information: Plural of Nouns

Download Prepositions of Place

Download The Clothes

Camden Town, often shortened to Camden, is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around 4.1 km north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London.

Laid out as a residential district from 1791 and originally part of the manor of Kentish Town and the parish of St Pancras, Camden Town became an important location during the early development of the railways, which reinforced its position on the London canal network. The area's industrial economic base has been replaced by service industries such as retail, tourism and entertainment. The area now hosts street markets and music venues associated with alternative culture.

Camden Town is named after Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden. His earldom was styled after his estate, Camden Place near Chislehurst in Kent (now in the London Borough of Bromley), formerly owned by historian William Camden. The name, which appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1822, was later applied to the early-20th-century Camden Town Group of artists and the London Borough of Camden, created in 1965.

The emergence of the industrial revolution in the 19th century meant Camden was the  North Western Railway's terminal stop in 1837. It was where goods were transported off the tracks and onto the roads of London by 250 000 workhorses. The whole area was adapted to a transportation function: the Roundhouse (1846), Camden Lock and the Stables were examples of this.

More information: Camden Watch Company

Camden Town stands on land that was once the manor of Kentish Town. Sir Charles Pratt, a radical 18th-century lawyer and politician, acquired the manor through marriage.

In 1791, he started granting leases for houses to be built in the manor.

In 1816, the Regent's Canal was built through the area. Up to at least the mid-20th century, Camden Town was considered an unfashionable locality.

The Camden Markets, which started in 1973 and have grown since then, attract many visitors.

On 9 February 2008, Camden Canal market suffered a major fire, but there were no injuries. It later reopened as Camden Lock Village, until closed in 2015 for redevelopment.

Camden Town was contained within the Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras between 1900 and 1965, when it became part of the new London Borough of Camden, of which it is the namesake and administrative centre.

Camden Town is on relatively flat ground at 30 m above sea level, 4.0 km north-northwest of Charing Cross. To the north are the hills of Hampstead and Highgate; to the west is Primrose Hill. The culverted, subterranean River Fleet flows from its source on Hampstead Heath through Camden Town south to the River Thames. The Regent's Canal runs through the north of Camden Town.

Camden is well known for its markets. These date from 1974 or later, except for Inverness Street market, for over a century a small food market serving the local community, though by 2013 all foodstuff and produce stalls had gone and only touristy stalls remained. Camden Lock Market proper started in a former timber yard in 1973, and is now surrounded by five more markets: Buck Street market, Stables market, Camden Lock Village, and an indoor market in the Electric Ballroom.

The markets are a major tourist attraction at weekends, selling goods of all types, including fashion, lifestyle, books, food, junk/antiques and more bizarre items; they and the surrounding shops are popular with young people, in particular, those searching for alternative clothing. While originally open on Sundays only, market activity later extended throughout the week, though concentrating on weekends.

More information: Camden Market

 I was selling bric-a-brac

in Portobello and Camden Market.
I love objects. But I was embarrassed 

by the idea of collecting,
so I began using these things in my art.

Cornelia Parker

LADY GAGA & THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

Today is a sunny day in New York. The Grangers and The Grandma have continued their formation in English. They have studied There is/There are and the Plural of Nouns, before accepting an invitation to assist to the MET and participite as guests in a cerimony conducted by Lady Gaga to promote her new single. 

More info: There is/are

More info: Plural of Nouns

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress.

She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenager, singing at open mic nights and acting in school plays. She studied at Collaborative Arts Project 21, through the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, before dropping out to pursue a career in music.

After Def Jam Recordings canceled her contract, she worked as a songwriter for Sony/ATV Music Publishing, where she signed a joint deal with Interscope Records and KonLive Distribution, in 2007.  

Gaga had her breakthrough the following year with her debut studio album, The Fame, and its chart-topping singles Just Dance and Poker Face. The album was later reissued to include the extended play The Fame Monster (2009), which yielded the successful singles Bad Romance, Telephone, and Alejandro.

Gaga's five succeeding studio albums all debuted atop the US Billboard 200. Her second full-length album, Born This Way (2011), explored electronic rock and techno-pop and sold more than one million copies in its first week. The title track became the fastest-selling song on the iTunes Store, with over one million downloads in less than a week. Following her EDM-influenced third album, Artpop (2013), and its lead single Applause, Gaga released the jazz album Cheek to Cheek (2014) with Tony Bennett, and the soft rock album Joanne (2016). She ventured into acting, winning awards for her leading roles in the miniseries American Horror Story: Hotel (2015-2016) and the musical film A Star Is Born (2018).

More information: Instagram-Lady Gaga

Her contributions to the latter's soundtrack, which spawned the chart-topping single Shallow, made her the first woman to win an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Grammy Award in one year. 

Gaga returned to dance-pop with her sixth studio album, Chromatica (2020), which yielded the number-one single Rain on Me. She followed this with her second collaborative album with Bennett, Love for Sale, and a starring role in the biopic House of Gucci, both in 2021.

Having sold an estimated 170 million records, Gaga is one of the world's best-selling music artists and the only female artist to achieve four singles that each sold at least 10 million copies globally. Her accolades include 13 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, 18 MTV Video Music Awards, awards from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and recognition as Billboard's Artist of the Year (2010) and Woman of the Year (2015). She has also been included in several Forbes' power rankings and ranked fourth on VH1's Greatest Women in Music (2012).

Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010 and 2019 and placed her on their All-Time 100 Fashion Icons list. Her philanthropy and activism focus on mental health awareness and LGBT rights; she has her own non-profit organization, the Born This Way Foundation, which supports the wellness of young people. 

Gaga's business ventures include Haus Labs, a vegan cosmetics brand launched in 2019.

More information: Twitter-Lady Gaga

The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, colloquially the Met, is the largest art museum in the United States. With 7.06 million visitors in 2016, it was the second most visited art museum in the world, and the fifth most visited museum of any kind. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among seventeen curatorial departments. The main building, on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is by area one of the world's largest art galleries. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from Medieval Europe. 

On March 18, 2016, the museum opened the Met Breuer museum at Madison Avenue in the Upper East Side; it extends the museum's modern and contemporary art program.

The permanent collection consists of works of art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. 

The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, as well as antique weapons and armor from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from first-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 for the purposes of opening a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. It opened on February 20, 1872, and was originally located at 681 Fifth Avenue.

 

Download The MET Guide by The Grandma

 

  

A great day in New York would be to wake up, 

get a cup of coffee and head up to Central Park for a nice walk. 

Then I'd go down to the East Village and stroll around. 

After that, maybe I'd go check out 

a museum or catch an indie film at the Angelika. 

Emmanuelle Chriqui

BRANDING, EXPOSING YOUR NAME AROUND THE WORLD

Today, The Grandma has continued her English classes with The Bishops in Castelldefels.

First, they have been talking about plurals in English.

Next, they have practised must and should modal verbs again.

Finally, they have given some advice to Rennette Watson to improve her brand around the world.

More information: Plural

 

More information: Learning English with Oxford

In marketing, brand management begins with an analysis on how a brand is currently perceived in the market, proceeds to planning how the brand should be perceived if it is to achieve its objectives and continues with ensuring that the brand is perceived as planned and secures its objectives.

Developing a good relationship with target markets is essential for brand management. Tangible elements of brand management include the product itself; its look, price, and packaging. The intangible elements are the experiences that the target markets share with the brand, and also the relationships they have with the brand. A brand manager would oversee all aspects of the consumer's brand association as well as relationships with members of the supply chain.

More information: Twitter, Communications with 280 Characters

It is defined as the process of creating a relationship or a connection between a company's product and emotional perception of the customer for the purpose of generating segregation among competition and building loyalty among customers.

Brand management is a function of marketing that uses special techniques in order to increase the perceived value of a product. Based on the aims of the established marketing strategy, brand management enables the price of products to grow and builds loyal customers through positive associations and images or a strong awareness of the brand.

Brand management is the process of identifying the core value of a particular brand and reflecting the core value among the targeted customers. In modern terms, a brand could be corporate, product, service, or person.

RNT, Rennette's brand

Brand management builds brand credibility and credible brands only can build brand loyalty, bounce back from circumstantial crisis, and can benefit from price-sensitive customers. The earliest origins of branding can be traced to pre-historic times. 

The practice may have first begun with the branding of farm animals in the middle East in the neolithic period. Stone Age and Bronze Age cave paintings depict images of branded cattle. Egyptian funerary artwork also depicts branded animals. Over time, the practice was extended to marking personal property such as pottery or tools, and eventually some type of brand or insignia was attached to goods intended for trade.

Around 4,000 years ago, producers began by attaching simple stone seals to products which, over time, were transformed into clay seals bearing impressed images, often associated with the producer's personal identity thus giving the product a personality.

A number of archaeological research studies have found extensive evidence of branding, packaging and labelling in antiquity. Archaeologists have identified some 1,000 different Roman potters' marks of the early Roman Empire, suggesting that branding was a relatively widespread practice.

More information: The Branding Journal

In Pompeii (circa 35 CE), Umbricius Scauras, a manufacturer of fish sauce, also known as garum, was branding his amphora which travelled across the entire Mediterranean. Mosaic patterns in the atrium of his house were decorated with images of amphora bearing his personal brand and quality claims.

In the East, evidence of branding also dates to an early period. From as early as 200 BCE, Chinese packaging and branding was used to signal family, place names and product quality, and the use of government imposed product branding was used between 600 and 900 AD.

In Japan, branding has a long heritage. For many Japanese businesses, a mon or seal is an East Asian form of brand or trademark.

The impetus for more widespread branding was often provided by government laws, requiring producers to meet minimum quality specifications or to standardise weights and measures, which in turn, was driven by public concerns about quality and fairness in exchange. The use of hallmarks, applied to precious metal objects, was well in place by the 4th century CE in Byzantium.

Evidence of silver bars marked under authority of the Emperor Augustinian dates to around 350 CE, and represents one of the oldest known forms of consumer protection. Hundreds of silver objects, including chalices, cups, plates, rings and bullion, all bearing hallmarks from the early Byzantine period, have been found and documented. Hallmarks for silver and gold were introduced in Britain in 1300.

In Medieval Europe, branding was applied to a broader range of goods and services. Craft guilds, which sprang up across Europe around this time, codified and reinforced, systems of marking products to ensure quality and standards. Bread-makers, silversmiths and goldsmiths all marked their wares during this period.

By 1266, English bakers were required by law to put a symbol on each product they sold. Bricui et al. have argued that the number of different forms of brands blossomed from the 14th century following the period of European discovery and expansion.

More information: 99 Designs

Branding was more widely used in the 19th century, following the industrial revolution, and the development of new professions like marketing, manufacturing and business management formalised the study of brands and branding as a key business activity.

Branding is a way of differentiating product from mere commodities, and therefore the use of branding expanded with each advance in transportation, communication, and trade.

With the rise of mass media in the early 20th century, companies soon adopted techniques that would allow their advertising messages to stand out; slogans, mascots, and jingles began to appear on radio in the 1920s and early television in the 1930s. By the 1930s, these advertising spots, as the packets of time became known, were being sold by the station's geographical sales representatives, ushering in an era of national radio advertising.

From the first decades of the 20th-century, advertisers began to focus on developing brand personality, brand image and brand identity-concepts.

By the 1940s, manufacturers began to recognize the way in which consumers were developing relationships with their brands in a social/psychological/anthropological sense. Advertisers began to use motivational research and consumer research to gather insights into consumer purchasing. Throughout the late 20th-century, brand advertisers began to imbue goods and services with a personality, based on the insight that consumers searched for brands with personalities that matched their own.

Among the most highly visible and recognizable brands is the script and logo for Coca-Cola products. Despite numerous blind tests indicating that Coke's flavor is not preferred, Coca-Cola continues to enjoy a dominant share of the cola market.

Modern brand management also intersects with legal issues such as genericization of trademark.  Yet, in a sense, reaching this stage of market domination is itself a triumph of brand management, in that becoming so dominant typically involves strong profit.

More information: Branding Mag

 

  

Your brand is your name, basically.

A lot of people don't know that they need to build their brand;

your brand is what keeps you moving.

Meek Mill

THE STONES ARE GOING TO MEET MAGNUM P.I. IN OAHU

Today, The Stones have received the wonderful visit of Thomas Sullivan Magnum III, a private investigator and old friend of The Grandma. They have been talking about common friends and he has offered himself to The Stones to be the guide during their staying in Hawaii. Before meeting Magnum, The Stones and The Grandma have studied some English grammar. They have worked Future Continuous and Plural of Nouns.

Magnum, P.I. is an American crime drama television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator (P.I.) living on Oahu, Hawaii.

The series ran from 1980 to 1988 during its first-run broadcast on the American television network CBS.

According to the Nielsen ratings, Magnum, P.I. consistently ranked in the top twenty U.S. television programs during the first five years of its original run in the United States.

A reboot series of the same name was ordered to series on May 11, 2018, and premiered on September 24, 2018 on CBS.

Thomas Sullivan Magnum III is a private investigator played by Tom Selleck. He resides in the guest house of 81 ha beachfront estate called Robin's Nest, in Hawaii, at the invitation of its owner, Robin Masters, the celebrated, but never-seen, author of several dozen lurid novels.

Ostensibly this is quid pro quo for Magnum's services based upon his expertise in security; the pilot and several early episodes suggest Magnum had done Masters a favor of some kind, possibly when Masters hired him for a case. The voice of Robin Masters, heard only in five episodes, was provided by Orson Welles, one last appearance was provided by a different actor, Red Crandell.

More information: Future Continuous & Plural of Nouns

Magnum lives a luxurious life on the estate and operates as a P.I. on cases that suit him.

The only thorn in the side of his near-perfect lifestyle is Jonathan Quayle Higgins III, played by John Hillerman. An ex-British Army Sergeant Major, he is on the surface a stern, by-the-book caretaker of Robin's Nest, whose strict ways often conflict with Magnum's more easy-going methods. He patrols Robin's Nest with his two highly trained lads, Doberman Pinschers named Zeus and Apollo. 

Magnum has free use of the guest house and the car, a Ferrari 308 GTS Quattrovalvole, but as a humorous aside in various episodes, often has to bargain with Higgins for use of estate amenities such as the tennis courts, wine cellar and expensive cameras.

The relationship between Magnum and Higgins is initially cool, but as the series progressed, an unspoken respect and fondness of sorts grew between the pair. 

Aside from Higgins, Magnum's two main companions on the islands are Theodore Calvin "T.C." (Roger E. Mosley), who runs a local helicopter charter service called Island Hoppers, and often finds himself persuaded by Magnum to fly him during various cases, and Orville Wilbur Richard "Rick" Wright (Larry Manetti), who refuses to use his given name Orville and who owns a local bar.

In the pilot episode, this was Rick's Cafe Americain in town, inspired by Casablanca, with Rick appearing in suitable 1930s attire. After completing the pilot, though, executives felt that audiences would be unable to fully connect with this element. Instead, Rick moved to running the plush, beachside King Kamehameha Club, which has exclusive membership and Higgins on the board of directors. Magnum often strolls around the club, using its facilities and running up an ever-unpaid tab, further fueling the Magnum-Higgins feud.

More information: Click Americana

T.C. and Rick are both former Marines from Marine Observation Squadron 2 (VMO-2) with whom Magnum, a former Navy SEAL and Naval Intelligence officer, served in the Vietnam War. The series was one of the first to deal with Vietnam veterans as human beings and not as shell-shocked killers, and was praised by many ex-servicemen groups for doing so.

Magnum often dupes or bribes T.C. and Rick into aiding him on his cases, much to their frustration, though the deep friendship within the group, including Higgins, proved to be one of the key elements of the program over its eight-season run.

Magnum comes and goes as he pleases, works only when he wants, and has the almost unlimited use of the Ferrari and many other luxuries of the estate. He keeps a mini-refrigerator with a seemingly endless supply of beer, Old Düsseldorf in a long neck, wears his father's treasured Rolex GMT Master wristwatch and is surrounded by countless beautiful women, who are often victims of crime, his clients, or are connected in various other ways to the cases he solves.

Other characteristics specific to Magnum are his thick moustache, baseball caps (usually a Detroit Tigers or VMO-2 cap), a rubber chicken, and a variety of colorful Aloha shirts. Nearly every episode is narrated, in voice-over, by Magnum at various points.

At the end of the seventh season, Magnum was to be killed off, to end the series. Following an outcry from fans who demanded a more satisfactory conclusion, an eighth season was produced to bring Magnum back to life and to round off the series.

More information: Mental Floss

Hawaii is one of those places that, keeps topping itself. 

Just when you think you'll never see another sunset as beautiful, 

there comes a sunrise that only Gauguin could imagine. 

It kind of makes unemployment easier to take.

Thomas Magnum

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT & PROCUREMENT (III)

The Grandma is manufacturing inventory

Today, The Grandma is still in Sant Boi learning lots of things about Logistics. Inventory is an important stage in the Logistics process and she has wanted to know more information about it. She has found an interesting article written in Investopedia that explains what an inventory is perfectly.

An inventory is a group of items to store, keep and move and because of this, The Grandma has considered that it was very important to explain some aspects of English grammar to have more vocabulary, especially, Countable & Uncountable; Plurals of Nouns; Some/Any & No; and There is/There are constructions.

More information: Plural of Nouns & There is/There Are

More information: Countable/Uncountable I, II & III - Some, Any & No

Inventory management refers to the process of ordering, storing, and using a company's inventory. These include the management of raw materials, components, and finished products, as well as warehousing and processing such items.

For companies with complex supply chains and manufacturing processes, balancing the risks of inventory gluts and shortages is especially difficult. To achieve these balances, firms have developed two major methods for inventory management: just-in-time and materials requirement planning: just-in-time (JIT) and materials requirement planning (MRP).

How Inventory Management Works 

 

A company's inventory is one of its most valuable assets. In retail, manufacturing, food service, and other inventory-intensive sectors, a company's inputs and finished products are the core of its business. A shortage of inventory when and where it's needed can be extremely detrimental.

At the same time, inventory can be thought of as a liability (if not in an accounting sense). A large inventory carries the risk of spoilage, theft, damage, or shifts in demand. Inventory must be insured, and if it is not sold in time it may have to be disposed of at clearance prices -or simply destroyed. 

Jessica, Just in Time (JIT)

For these reasons, inventory management is important for businesses of  any size.

Knowing when to restock certain items, what amounts to purchase or produce, what price to pay -as well as when to sell and at what price -can easily become complex decisions. Small businesses will often keep track of stock manually and determine the reorder points and quantities using Excel formulas.

Larger businesses will use specialized enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. The largest corporations use highly customized software as a service (SaaS) applications.

Appropriate inventory management strategies vary depending on the industry. An oil depot is able to store large amounts of inventory for extended periods of time, allowing it to wait for demand to pick up. While storing oil is expensive and risky -a fire in the UK in 2005 led to millions of pounds in damage and fines -there is no risk that the inventory will spoil or go out of style. For businesses dealing in perishable goods or products for which demand is extremely time-sensitive -2019 calendars or fast-fashion items, for example -sitting on inventory is not an option, and misjudging the timing or quantities of orders can be costly.

More information: Trade Gecko

Inventory Accounting

Inventory represents a current asset since a company typically intends to sell its finished goods within a short amount of time, typically a year. 

Inventory has to be physically counted or measured before it can be put on a balance sheet. Companies typically maintain sophisticated inventory management systems capable of tracking real-time inventory levels. Inventory is accounted for using one of three methods: first-in-first-out (FIFO) costing; last-in-first-out (LIFO) costing; or weighted-average costing.

An inventory account typically consists of four separate categories:

-Raw materials

-Work in process

-Finished goods

-Merchandise

Raw materials represent various materials a company purchases for its production process. These materials must undergo significant work before a company can transform them into a finished good ready for sale.

Works-in-process represent raw materials in the process of being transformed into a finished product.

Finished goods are completed products readily available for sale to a company's customers.

Merchandise represents finished goods a company buys from a supplier for future resale.

Depending on the type of business or product being analyzed, a company will use various inventory management methods. Some of these management methods include just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing, materials requirement planning (MRP), economic order quantity (EOQ), and days sales of inventory (DSI).

More information: Big Commerce

Just-in-Time Management

Just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing originated in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s; Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) contributed the most to its development. The method allows companies to save significant amounts of money and reduce waste by keeping only the inventory they need to produce and sell products. This approach reduces storage and insurance costs, as well as the cost of liquidating or discarding excess inventory.

JIT inventory management can be risky. If demand unexpectedly spikes, the manufacturer may not be able to source the inventory it needs to meet that demand, damaging its reputation with customers and driving business toward competitors. Even the smallest delays can be problematic; if a key input does not arrive just in time, a bottleneck can result.

Materials Requirement Planning

The materials requirement planning (MRP) inventory management method is sales-forecast dependent, meaning that manufacturers must have accurate sales records to enable accurate planning of inventory needs and to communicate those needs with materials suppliers in a timely manner. For example, a ski manufacturer using an MRP inventory system might ensure that materials such as plastic, fiberglass, wood, and aluminum are in stock based on forecasted orders. Inability to accurately forecast sales and plan inventory acquisitions results in a manufacturer's inability to fulfill orders.

More information: Cleartax

Economic Order Quantity

The economic order quantity (EOQ) model is used in inventory management by calculating the number of units a company should add to its inventory with each batch order to reduce the total costs of its inventory while assuming constant consumer demand. The costs of inventory in the model include holding and setup costs.

The EOQ model seeks to ensure that the right amount of inventory is ordered per batch so a company does not have to make orders too frequently and there is not an excess of inventory sitting on hand. It assumes that there is a trade-off between inventory holding costs and inventory setup costs, and total inventory costs are minimized when both setup costs and holding costs are minimized.

Inventory in the warehouse

Days Sales of Inventory

Days sales of inventory (DSI) is a financial ratio that indicates the average time in days that a company takes to turn its inventory, including goods that are a work in progress, into sales.

DSI is also known as the average age of inventory, days inventory outstanding (DIO), days in inventory (DII), days sales in inventory or days inventory and is interpreted in multiple ways. Indicating the liquidity of the inventory, the figure represents how many days a company’s current stock of inventory will last. Generally, a lower DSI is preferred as it indicates a shorter duration to clear off the inventory, though the average DSI varies from one industry to another.

Qualitative Analysis of Inventory

There are other methods used to analyze a company's inventory. If a company frequently switches its method of inventory accounting without reasonable justification, it is likely its management is trying to paint a brighter picture of its business than what is true. The SEC requires public companies to disclose LIFO reserve that can make inventories under LIFO costing comparable to FIFO costing.

Frequent inventory write-offs can indicate a company's issues with selling its finished goods or inventory obsolescence. This can also raise red flags with a company's ability to stay competitive and manufacture products that appeal to consumers going forward.

Understanding Just-in-Time (JIT) Inventory Systems

A just-in-time inventory system is a management strategy that aligns raw-material orders from suppliers directly with production schedules.
 

More information:  JIT

Why You Should Use Days Sales Of Inventory–DSI

The days sales of inventory (DSI) gives investors an idea of how long it takes a company to turn its inventory into sales.
 

More information: DSI

 
What Works-in-Progress Really Mean
The term work-in-progress (WIP) is a production and supply-chain management term describing partially finished goods awaiting completion. WIP refers to the raw materials, labor, and overhead costs incurred for products that are at various stages of the production process.
 

More information: WIP

 
Pull-Through Production

Pull-through production is a manufacturing strategy that releases an order when a company receives the order for that item.
 

More information: PTP

Perpetual Inventory Definition

Perpetual inventory is a method of accounting for inventory that records the sale or purchase of inventory immediately through the use of computerized point-of-sale systems and enterprise asset management software.
 

More information: PID

Inventory
Inventory is the term for merchandise or raw materials that a company has on hand.

More information: Inventory

After reading about inventory, The Grandma has remembered Antoni Gaudí, the genius of Architecture whose works are universally known.

Gaudí had his warehouse of proofs in Sant Boi where he experimented with elements, materials and Mathematics. Without Sant Boi and Santa Coloma de Cervelló is impossible to understand this great artist and enormous person.

More information: Antoni Gaudí I, II, III, IV, V & VI

More information: Antoni Gaudí I & II (Catalan Version)

More information: Antoni Gaudí (Spanish Version)

Less emphasis on inventories, I think, may tend to dampen

business cycles, because business cycles are typically

in the grasp of inventory cycles and heavy industry cycles.

Paul A. Volcker

LULLABIES: SAD SONGS FROM THE MIDDLE AGE

Rubén Bond joins the Force. Good luck, partner!

Today, The Bonds are reviewing some aspects about Social English and English Grammar: Present Simple & Continuous, Articles and Plural of Nouns. 

Moreover, they are using the deduction method with some exercises to guess the correct answers.

More information: Plural of nouns & The Articles

After talking about lullabies with the examples of English, Occitan and Catalan folk and their influence from the Middle Age until nowadays, The Bonds are remembering the origins of some of the oldest guards in Europe and their influence in American ones.

Download Nanas de la Cebolla of Miguel Hernández by Mísia

Rubén Bond has decided to join the Force and he's taking another way far away the family who desires him lots of luck and a future full of chances and hapiness.

Finally, the family has created a neutral composition about the situation of education in our schools nowadays, a difficult theme with lots of questions and no answers.

 Goodnight my angel, now it's time to sleep 

and still so many things I want to say.
Remember all the songs you sang for me 

when we went sailing on an emerald bay

and like a boat out on the ocean
I'm rocking you to sleep.
The water's dark and deep, inside this ancient heart.
You'll always be a part of me.

Billy Joel