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94 SMT Magazine • February 2015 As I mentioned in Part 1 of this series (Oc- tober, 2014), tours of SMT factories sometimes make me feel like I am in an episode of The X- Files. In Part 1, we focused on information about processes that were often out of this world, so to speak. This time, we focus on a case of abduc- tion. abduction The story starts with the reported disappear- ance of some key materials from the shop floor. One minute they were there, and the next, they could not be found. Rumors were started and fingers were pointed. The evidence trig- gered stories of strange events that sometimes took place during the night, when no one was around. CCTV was setup; footage was analyzed and cages were built to protect higher-value materials, but still, the strange disappearance of materials continued. Time once again for Mulder and Scully to investigate. Was the disappearance caused by some alien visitation, or had an enterprising en- gineer simply built a teleportation device out of spare parts? The truth had to be uncovered—a task that was to become something much more complex than anyone was expecting. The victim in this instance was quickly identified as we entered the senior manager's meeting room. Charts were displayed; groups of managers sat huddled over tablets. As we sat down, the CEO called the meeting to order. We were taken through a sequence of reports that showed that materials had been ordered by MRP, arrived, booked in, but had then never left the factory—at least not officially. All available staff had been called on to work through the previous weekend, perform- ing a site-wide stock check, counting all of the raw materials in the factory. The expected result had been a subtle material discrepancy between the ERP stock records and the physical inven- tory that could be explained by the nature of the production operation. The shocking reality, however, was an inventory inaccuracy level ap- proaching 30%, or 10x what had been expected. by Michael Ford MenTOr grApHiCS, vAlOr DiviSiOn THe eSSeNTIaL PIONeer'S SurVIVaL GuIde Stop the SMT Conspiracy, Part 2: abduction Column