Inventory management tops ‘critical list’ for companies in 2010: study

Companies adapting to the Great Recession and recovery are citing inventory management as the most important step, according to a new white paper by global supply chain and inventory experts.

“Product where it is needed, when it is needed, in the appropriate quantities and in the required state…is critical for manufacturing companies struggling to survive the current recession,” said Jim Tompkins, president and CEO of market research firm Tompkins Associates and the paper’s co-author. “It’s not that the role of inventory has suddenly changed, rather it has evolved as organizations have become more focused on managing inventory at the same time that the economic picture has made it more difficult to manage.”

Co-author Ralph Cox, principal at Raleigh, N.C.-based Tompkins Associates, sees advanced decision-making through SIOP as one of the keys to attaining world-class inventory management. “There are conflicts within companies that inventory optimization alone cannot address,” he noted. “SIOP provides a platform for addressing any conflicts that deserve cross-functional management consideration.”

Planning, sales, marketing, product development and manufacturing each have their own priorities but are increasingly discovering that they need to align to meet today’s competitive challenges, the white paper notes.

Entitled “Evolution to World-Class Inventory Managment”, the white paper is available (free registration required) at this link.