Small-to-medium size businesses that place their customers at the center of their supply chain planning increase their competitive edge.

How do different divisions collaborate to optimize inventory and align with business goals? An integral part of inventory management is maintaining a balanced investment in your inventory

Safety stock performs a vital role in your supply chain and helps businesses avoid stock-outs and meet demand. How much safety stock do you need to optimize your inventory?

Black Friday and Cyber Monday happen every year at the end of November. Is your business prepared for these events, and how does it affect your supply chain and demand planning?

Reducing long lead times in your supply chain is critical to meeting customer demands on time and reducing inventory costs.

Discover the impact of the bullwhip effect on supply chains. Learn why it happens and discover strategies to mitigate this phenomenon.

Optimize your supply chain so you have the visibility to make accurate inventory decisions. What inventory management trends are affecting your business?

Implementing supply chain planning software requires commitment from your team and starts with a well-planned implementation and onboarding process adopted across your business.

A cyberattack in your supply chain can compromise confidential data, resulting in reputational damage, a loss of customers,  and financial harm to your business. R

A healthy cash flow can help a business navigate uncertainty, and understanding the inventory holding costs involved is your first step.

Disruptions in your supply chain operations will put your business at risk, creating costly setbacks if you don’t mitigate as much of the risk as possible.

Classifying your inventory allows you to focus on the right stock to meet demand, which helps you retain customers and remain competitive.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) help you monitor and make vital decisions for your inventory.

Proactively reviewing supply chain practices will help inventory planners confidently plan, manage and optimize inventory during challenging circumstances.

The ability to predict demand is complex. Ongoing disruptions to a fragile global supply chain will make it difficult for inventory businesses to model and predict future demand.

It’s an exciting time to own a packaging company. Shifts in consumer demands, a move towards more eco-friendly materials, and innovative technology are all knocking at your front door.

Set yourself up for success in 2021. Draw on last year’s experience to confidently plan and optimize your inventory replenishment.

Inventory is the lifeblood of your business. Strategically managing your inventory to optimize cash flow and product availability is crucial. By fully controlling your inventory levels, you can minimize waste while maximizing profitability. So, how do you achieve this perfect balance?

With the end of the year only a few months away, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are fast approaching.  Are you ready?

Stepping into supply chain planning for manufacturing is like tackling a maze of hurdles.

Warehouse and inventory management are two crucial functions found in most supply chain companies. The competitive landscape is fierce, so it should be every business owner’s desire and ambition to get these two functions as streamlined and automated as possible.

In Part 1, we discussed the shortfalls in the 7 compelling reasons why not to use a spreadsheet for your inventory planning  In part 2, we look at what is expected from a spreadsheet from an Inventory Management perspective.

When it comes to disruptions in the supply chain, we may not be in control of external factors such as political, environmental, or, as we have recently seen, pandemics.

Most small businesses start off with a few products which are easily managed in a spreadsheet. As your business grows, you gradually start to expand your range.

Excess stock is inventory that is purchased in excess of the demand. But why all the fuss about it?

From a supply chain perspective, we find ourselves in a world that is not only very uncertain at the moment but where the future is undetermined. 

Like water is to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, so too is inventory to a company with a supply chain. Humans can’t survive without water, just as suppliers can’t survive without stock. 

Suppliers are a fundamental link in the supply chain over which you, as a business, have little control. There is always the inherent possibility that deliveries will not be on time, and even if they are, they may not be complete in terms of what you ordered.

The advent of the internet and the development of security protocols enabling sensitive data such as credit card information to be safely transmitted across the web – opened up the opportunity for retail companies to start virtual retailing (online stores). 

Many senior managers that were born in the ’60s or ’70s were taught by their parents that it was better to buy software, buildings, and other assets to reduce the expenses incurred in interest and grow the capital value of the business. 

Throughout our lives, from the cradle to the grave, we are classified – classified according to our age, sex, religion, political views, demographics, hobbies, opinions, dietary choices, and many more. These classifications are used by companies to sell or market to us, or to determine our risk factors. 

Your supply chain business may be at the stage on the inventory maturity curve where you want to consider extending your ERP functionality to provide better demand planning and forecasting functionality. You won’t be starved for choice as there are many solutions available today.

The supply chain revolves around supply and demand. If suppliers delivered on time every time and we could predict what our customers were going to buy, we could match the supply and demand, and all would be well in the world. Unfortunately, life doesn’t work like that. 

The foundation of any supply chain business is its Inventory.  As with any “foundation,” if it’s not healthy and stable, the cracks will start to appear. Before long, you will have severe problems on your hands, which take away from the little time you have in dealing with emergencies.

Some form of energy fuelled the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd industrial revolutions. The 1st revolution used steam, the 2nd , electricity; the 3rd saw the emergence of nuclear energy and the rise of electronics with the microprocessor as well as the rise of telecommunications and computers. 

For warehouse managers, the phrase “stock outage” should be banned from the inventory dictionary. With today’s technology and the available tools, there is simply no reason why you should ever be out of stock on any product.