Maximize profits by optimizing your inventory management strategy.
Inventory management helps companies identify which and how much stock to order at what time. It tracks inventory from purchase to the sale of goods. The practice identifies and responds to trends to ensure a smooth business. In todays economic enviorment, this is critical.
What Is Inventory Management?
Inventory management refers to the process of ordering, storing, using, and selling a company's inventory. This includes the management of raw materials, components, and finished products, as well as warehousing and processing of such items.
-
Inventory management is the entire process of managing inventories from raw materials to finished products.
-
The practice tries to efficiently streamline inventories to avoid both gluts and shortages.
-
Two major methods for inventory management are just-in-time (JIT) and materials requirement planning (MRP).
Understanding Inventory Management
A company's inventory is one of its most valuable assets. In retail, manufacturing, food services, 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.
For these reasons, inventory management is important for businesses of any size. Knowing when to restock inventory, 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 spreadsheet (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—2021 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.
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 several methods for inventory management, including just-in-time (JIT) and materials requirement planning (MRP).
At CPE, we specialize in analysing and understanding every aspect of Inventory Management and how to best apply this knowledge to customer’s needs.
