Addressing these five fundamental questions that shape effective inventory management is imperative.
As the Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO) overseeing procurement, sourcing, planning, and distribution, your role is crucial in optimizing the end-to-end supply chain. This article will explore the five fundamental questions you need to answer to master your inventory management and explore how continuous inventory right-sizing can revolutionize your supply chain operations. For an in-depth analysis, we recommend downloading the comprehensive report “Making the Case for Continuous Inventory Right-Sizing,” by GAINS and Supply Chain Management Review.
In today’s rapidly evolving business environment, mastering inventory management is crucial for CSCOs. By diligently addressing the five inventory questions outlined in this article, you can enhance customer satisfaction, achieve overall business goals, strike a balance between finance and sales demands, and optimize profitability. Adopting a data-centric, timely decision-making approach and leveraging advanced technologies like GAINS enable you to navigate modern supply chain complexities successfully.
The five fundamental questions you need to answer to master your inventory management
1. Do we have the right products in the right place at the right time?
Meeting customer demand hinges on ensuring your inventory levels align with their expectations. By leveraging advanced analytics and supply chain planning solutions like GAINS, into your inventory management process, you can incorporate valuable external data, including:
- market signals
- customer behavior
- changing lead times
- other valuable KPIs
A dynamic approach enables you to determine optimal quantities when placing orders from suppliers and maintain sufficient on-hand stock levels to meet customer requirements quickly without the added expense of expedited orders.
2. Are we meeting the demands of our customers?
Customer satisfaction is paramount for any successful supply chain. By continually evaluating your inventory metrics and adopting a more agile decision-making process, you can enhance responsiveness to customer needs. Employing technology platforms like GAINS empowers you to accurately determine the inventory required to meet organizational goals, bridging the gap between sales and finance objectives.
3. Are we helping to achieve our overall business goals?
As a CSCO, your responsibilities extend beyond just managing inventory. Your decisions need to align with broader business objectives. Through continuous inventory right-sizing, you can optimize profitability while ensuring your sales organization captures revenue, and your company maintains exceptional customer service. You can improve decision-making and strike a perfect balance between reducing inventory levels and meeting sales demands by leveraging advanced modeling and algorithms GAINS.
4. How can we balance finance and sales teams’ seemingly opposing inventory demands?
Balancing the inventory demands of finance, which aims to reduce inventory, and sales, which often strive to increase stock, requires effective communication and data-driven insights. You can engage in constructive discussions with both departments using a technology platform like GAINS. You’ll be equipped with accurate information on the inventory necessary to achieve their collective goals rather than being repeatedly asked to reduce or increase inventory levels.
5. Does our current inventory strategy optimize profitability?
To remain competitive, optimizing profitability through an efficient inventory strategy is essential. However, many companies have not revisited their inventory policies in years, leading to misaligned inventory levels and increased carrying costs. By embracing continuous decisioning and actively managing inventory policies, you can address these inefficiencies and unlock substantial gains in profitability. GAINS provides the tools and insights required to reset inventory policies effectively.
We encourage you to download the comprehensive report “Making the Case for Continuous Inventory Right-Sizing,” by GAINS and Supply Chain Management Review.to explore these concepts further and gain valuable insights into continuous inventory right-sizing
Other Reading:
Why Inventory Matters in Today’s Economy
The Key Features of an Optimized Demand Plan
How Much Would You Gain from Taking an AI Approach to Inventory?
