Focus Workshop - Inventory Management

APICS Logo 2013

One-day Workshop

Managing inventories is a very important task. Inventories account for an enormous portion of a firm’s cash expenditure, ranging anywhere from 10 percent to as high as 60 percent or more. Failure to effectively manage inventories can result in excess costs that drag down company profitability and create mismatches between what is available and what customers really want. This one-day workshop will focus on the purpose and function of inventory and inventory replenishment management.

Fundamentals of Inventory Management

Almost all businesses deal in some way or another with inventory. Manufacturers and distributors must efficiently manage the ordering, receiving, storing, tracking and selling of inventories of raw materials, components, and finished goods. Topics discussed:

  • Inventory management objectives
  • What inventory management does
  • Different classes of inventory
  • Different levels of inventory management
  • Characteristics of inventory in the supply chain
  • Strategic inventory management process
  • Demand and supply objectives
  • Conflicting objectives of inventory management and trade-off decisions
  • Inventory and demand flows
  • Inventory dynamics
  • Financial impact of inventory management

Inventory Replenishment Management

Inventory represents perhaps the single largest investment made by the typical company. Effectively managing inventory enables companies to maximize company profits by maximizing customer service, minimizing operations costs, and minimizing inventory investment. Topics discussed:

  • Components of inventory replenishment management
  • Principles of inventory replenishment
  • Inventory replenishment ordering techniques
  • Calculating safety stock
  • Calculating standard deviation
  • Determining order quantities
  • Order and inventory carrying cost components
  • Economic order quantity
  • Inventory replenishment planning process

Source:            Principles of Inventory Management, sessions 3 & 4

Potential Audience

This workshop may be of interest to: material planners, material coordinators, production planners, buyers, sales and marketing, middle management