Factory Filling

[PetJunction]

Thanks Seahaven for the advice! Seems like the overall answer is to fill the factories with the most used items until a predetermined inventory is stocked, then produce the other items mixed in with the high demand items. I do try to keep a few of the shelves available, like you said, for items that are needed and are out of stock, so that much I was already doing. I just couldn't figure out if I should produce full factories of the items that take a long time (2-5 hrs) so that I would have a larger inventory of those items, or mix them in with other, shorter production time, items. Your procedure makes good sense to me and I will follow your guidelines, as well as all other suggestions.

[PetJunction]

I'm not sure if others will post to this thread, but to those of you who have already made suggestions, I applaud you so much! Your recommendations and guidance are priceless, and I know now what I have to do to keep my inventory moving smoothly. Thanks so much to all who took the time to help a poor struggling mayor figure out how to keep her factories operating rhythmically to produce those highly demanded products!

[Laurel Cove]

I don't keep a lot of factory items in my barn....I have Raja all the time and use the barn to keep a small supply of items from factories I haven't built yet. I have expanded factory shelves to the max and use them to store 1 of each item, sometimes 2 and I replace immediately as used. I keep a good supply of rubber and silk in my barn and a small supply crops that take under an hour to grow. The rest of the crops are in dedicated fields. I delete helicopter orders requesting more than 1 of each item except crop requests. I don't fill plane orders that ask for 12 crates or ridiculous amounts. Trains can sit until they're filled, however long it takes. I found the number of requested items for planes and trains is related to how many items you have in your barn. For example, I often get train requests for 2 cars of 4 popcorn. So I decided to keep 4 popcorn in my barn at all times. Suddenly the train request changed to 3 cars of 4 popcorn. When I stopped storing popcorn, train requests went back to the orginal amount. The extra barn space is for expansion items and helping others.