Inventory Optimisation

Chaos to Order: Embracing the Journey of Warehouse Optimisation In the ever-evolving world of supply chain management, warehouses serve as critical hubs, where the efficiency and organisation of operations determine success or stagnation. Despite their pivotal role, warehouses often find themselves trapped in a web of challenges, from spatial limitations to labour inefficiencies, congestion in […]

What Is Inventory? Despite being defined as a current asset1, many treat inventory as a liability as attention is usually focused on keeping stock levels to a bare minimum. Of course, this is nothing new. Often, when we speak of supply chain efficiencies, we really mean efficiencies in inventory (more precisely, inventory reductions). On the […]

Stock management and control is complicated by the presence of uncertainties in demand and the lead time, and most of the time, in the execution of replenishment tasks itself. The most pervasive factor influencing uncertainty in the supply chain is variability (complexity, and constraints also play a role) and its effects can propagate and magnify […]

It seems timely (as we celebrate our tenth anniversary) to reflect on the journey that has led us to introduce the analytical tools that we subsequently applied in various business engagements. The resulting analyses provided our clients with sufficient insights and helped influence business decisions and performance improvements. It is generally accepted that supply chain […]

Following last month’s post, I’ll discuss the merits of selecting the best planning policies and review the concept and value of economic metrics. Clearly, all inventory systems contain many uncertainties, and these require a probability distribution of demand for items that can be replenished at either a certain level or point in time.  Actually, it […]

Traditionally, it was believed that a high level of stock guaranteed a successful service performance for a company. Nowadays, we have seen consumer demand influenced by many factors (environmental conditions, economic, social, etc.), consequently making supply chains more dynamic than ever. Furthermore, supply chain practitioners are now acutely aware that either over or under-stocking is […]

Dr. Tony McVeigh, Principal, Operations, spoke at the National Manufacturing and Supply Chain Event in Dublin last week, on ‘A Lean Approach to Optimal Warehouse Design’. Tony’s presentation included topics such as warehouse optimisation, order picking routes, work allocation and product mix.

Seasonality and Inventory Management Demand seasonality is generally associated with a boost in sales that occur at specific times of the year, e.g. Black Friday and Back-to-School (BTS).  These cyclic patterns play an important role in supply chain management, and can make it challenging for businesses to accurately plan inventory levels.  The degree of seasonality […]

Inventory optimisation – how much inventory should I hold? Inventory provides a necessary buffer in the supply chain to meet the expected demand for product, during the expected lead time to replenish. This is true at a raw material, component, and finished goods levels. The inventory held has a critical impact on customer service, warehouse […]