Inventory management is primarily about specifying the shape and percentage of stocked goods. It is required at different locations within a facility or within many locations of a supply network to precede the regular and planned course of production and stock of materials.
Inventory management
Female clerk doing inventory work using a handheld computer in a Tesco Lotus supermarket in Sakon Nakhon, Thailand.
The intent of inventory management is to continuously hold optimal inventory levels. The scope of inventory management concerns the fine lines between replenishment lead time, carrying costs of inventory, asset management, inventory forecasting, inventory valuation, inventory visibility, future inventory price forecasting, physical inventory, available physical space for inventory, quality management, replenishment, returns and defective goods, and demand forecasting. Balancing these competing requirements leads to optimal inventory levels, which is an on-going process as the business needs shift and react to the wider environment.
Management of the inventories, with the primary objective of determining/controlling stock levels within the physical distribution system, functions to balance the need for product availability against the need for minimizing stock holding and handling costs. Inventory management involves systems and processes that identify inventory requirements, set targets, provide replenishment techniques, report actual and projected inventory status, and handle all functions related to the tracking and management of material. This would include the monitoring of material moved into and out of stockroom locations and the reconciling of the inventory balances. It also may include ABC analysis, lot tracking, cycle counting support, etc. All of these practices leads to optimal product storage, helping minimize holding and handling costs.
Inventory management also can help companies improve cash flows. Companies with effective inventory management do not have to spend large capital balances for purchasing enormous amounts of inventory at once. This also saves handling and holding costs.