The prime objective for all supply chains is to provide clients with what they want, when they want it. Inventory management plays a central role in every supply chain’s need to satisfy its clients.
Why Inventory Management is Important to You
Despite its importance to the supply chain, methods for inventory management and lowering inventory costs are not well understood. Inventory is seen as both a positive and a negative — as an economic asset to a non-income-producing use of capital funds.
Only when considered in light of all quality, client service and economic factors — from the viewpoints of purchasing, manufacturing, sales, and finance — does the whole picture of inventory management become clear. No matter the viewpoint, effective inventory management is essential to supply chain competitiveness.
Recent industry reports show that inventory costs as a percent of total logistics costs are increasing. Despite this rise, many organizations have not taken full advantage of ways for lowering inventory costs.
There are a number of proven strategies that will provide payoff in the inventory area, both in client service and in financial terms. Some of these strategies for lowering inventory costs involve having less inventory, while others involve owning less of the inventory you have and only having inventory when and where it is needed.
Why Tompkins is the Best
Tompkins International helps companies develop an effective approach to inventory management. We analyze the impact of internal and external factors to integrate inventory with purchasing, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, and sales to create inventory policies that make sense. Tompkins solutions take into account:
- Client needs and their influence on in-stock/fill rates, lead time and accuracy
- Costs incurred from purchase transaction expenses, manufacturing set-up/changeover expenses, and more
- Operations changes driven by promotions or recalls and SKU proliferation
- Technology and its ability to provide trend, profiling and seasonality-based forecasting, trading partner visibility and planning collaboration
- Corporate goals, whether revenue, unit sales, or RONA/GMROI or A/P increase
We look at every area impacting your inventory to create a comprehensive inventory management strategy that will enhance financial performance and client satisfaction. Learn more:
- Sales and Operations Planning
- Organizational Development and Change Management
- Sourcing
Managing Inventory
For over 35 years, Tompkins International has helped companies and supply chains:
- Assess inventory management practices
- Improve forecasting accuracy
- Create more logical stocking (and non-stock!) policies
- Manage cycle stock to reduce costs
- Establish dynamic safety stock levels based on client service
- Cross-dock, cycle count, transfer, and discontinue SKUs effectively
- Reduce purchase transaction and manufacturing set-up/changeover costs
- Continuously improve inventory performance