Expert insights. Personalized for you.
We were discussing the results of the planning benchmarking work that we have just finished, and I was sharing some insights on inventory management when one of the panelists emphatically stated, “Inventory is a waste to manage. We feel so strongly about this that we do not have an inventory planning role.” His feeling was that inventory is an asset to manage. Inventory is both. Inventory management is a complex subject. MORE
An inventory professional who is responsible for 10,000 items has 10,000 things to stress over every day. The post Stop Leaking Money with Manual Inventory Controls appeared first on Smart Software. Blog Business Policy Demand Planning Excellence in Forecasting Inventory Optimization Operational Analytics demand planning implementations ERP inventory modeling inventory optimization kpi metrics probabilistic modeling statistical forecasting supply chain analytics MORE
The production efficiency is one of several measures across the supply chain including inventory and customer service and profitability. Now, they care about how much inventory they are holding. Inside-out to outside-in is starting to turn. Anyone who has worked with asset intensive process manufacturers knows how hard it is to change the thinking about machine capacity utilization. MORE
Reason #6 Not effectively managing inventory. Reason #9 Relentless pursuit of one supply chain metric at the expense of other metrics. Yet, these are similar instructions as what is passed down to the supply chain from executives focused on a specific supply chain metric. One example that I’ve seen several times is around inventory targets. The result is a lower inventory level, but much higher expedited costs and reduced customer service. MORE
Achieving a well-balanced, efficient inventory is no small task as supply chain complexity is ever increasing. Understanding and using some basic financial and accounting methods along with an advanced inventory optimization solution will help get you there and keep you there How do you get there and how do you know when you have arrived? MORE
But the sheer complexity of supply chain networks, and the impact design decisions have on operational performance, makes supply chain inventory management aligning inventory investments with on-time customer delivery and margins a major challenge. The equivalent of 7% of America’s GDP is tied up in inventory, and accounts receivable and payable. Implementing inventory optimization. The challenges of inventory optimization can be immense. MORE
The impact of complexity on inventory is not quick. To help, today I want to share some of the insights from our recent Inventory Optimization study. Inventory management is a hot issue. Companies invest in project after project, yet inventory levels remain the same. In business there are many drivers of inventory, and the management of inventory levels requires discipline and a cross-functional focus. What Drives Inventory Effectiveness? MORE
by Andrew Dunbar This post concludes my inventory management blog series. Throughout this series I’ve proposed an elevated role for the inventory manager that challenges the assumption that an inventory manager is a victim of his colleagues’ business decisions and plays only a limited role in formulating inventory results. Inventory management is not a stand-alone business process that occurs after other processes are complete. General News Inventory managemen MORE
When we look at the organizations of today, words like efficiency and productivity get thrown around with little understanding of what is required to improve one of these measurements (metrics). Let’s discuss why an efficiency metric is usually not the right metric and what a Lean manufacturing expert does when measuring true value in the supply chain. This “lost opportunity metric” is now something that Lean manufacturing experts try to keep at the top of the list. MORE
Ask yourself, “Are your supply chain metrics bogging you down?” ” To manage a supply chain containing complex dependencies between teams, departments and partner companies across international boundaries requires a rich set of metrics. However, companies often have too many independent metrics that can cause conflicts amongst competing supply chain functions. Functionally isolated metrics lead to sub-optimized supply chain performance. MORE
LNS Research blogger Mark Davidson said, “When it comes to metrics, it’s often said that what gets measured gets done.”. Mark also writes: “Metrics that have the attention of business and manufacturing leaders tend to be those that get measured and improved upon by their employee teams.”. But are employees being rewarded for metrics that do not in turn reward demand-driven flow and the customer signal (both real and imagined)? Metrics for Action. MORE
Interview with Lora Cecere, Founder and CEO of Supply Chain Insights and Author of Supply Chain Metrics that Matter ( published December 2014 ). Metrics that Matter became a three year research project. I hired a research assistant to look at balance sheets and looked at performance and really tried to figure out which metrics mattered. We interviewed supply chain leaders and in the middle of that I decided that I would write this book, Supply Chain Metrics that Matter. MORE
Importance of Metrics in Reverse Logistics Management. To monitor progress against its reverse logistics management plan, a company needs metrics that measure the financial impact of returns on the firm and on other members of the supply chain. Measures such as amount of product to be reclaimed and resold as is, or percentage of material recycled, are examples of such metrics. Energy used in handling returns : This metric is used in sustainability programs. MORE
The more challenging part of dashboarding, however, gets down to the actual metrics that should be included as part of a performance management strategy. Today’s post focuses on Sales metrics only. Basic Sales Metrics. More Complex Sales Metrics. MORE
This is often managed with the help of supplier management software or inventory management software. That’s where Procurement Metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) come into play. In this post, we’ll unpack ten top procurement metrics and why they matter. MORE
Inventory accuracy and minimizing stockouts are very important to customer satisfaction, but a few other metrics also impact the ability to meet customer expectations. Companies can use these metrics to help ensure they are doing everything possible to satisfy their customers at a manageable and sustainable cost. It’s easy to meet delivery expectations if you carry excess inventory, but it’s an expensive and impractical solution. Choosing Metrics. MORE
Supply Chain Metrics are one of the most important best practices in supply chain management because " You can''t manage what you can''t measure ". However, under certain circumstances, metrics are not used or implemented properly. This article will explain to you 7 kind of supply chain metrics that you should pay special attention to. 2) Utilization Metrics : machine utilization is a classic example of this kind of metric. It''s the inventory metric). MORE
Total manufacturing costs showcase how much your company spent to produce its inventory in a given period of time. This is not to be confused with the cost of goods manufactured (COGM), which refers to just the cost of inventory that was finished and prepared for the sale in the period. MORE
The post Quantum Inventory Theory? Blog Demand Planning Inventory Optimization Operational Analytics demand planning implementations efficient stocking ERP forecasting software inventory modeling inventory optimization kpi metrics overstock probabilistic modeling statistical forecasting supply chain analyticsPhysics at the quantum level is quite weird – not at all like what we experience in our usual macroscopic life. MORE
The answer lies using these omnichannel supply chain metrics to carefully track and improve operations continuously. Inventory Accuracy. This is a simple key performance indicator (KPI), another name for metrics, to track. It refers to the in-stock or out-of-stock accuracy of supplier inventory. This KPI should be as high as possible, reflecting accurate inventory available for customers from suppliers. Other Critical OmniChannel Supply Chain Metrics to Track. MORE
by Andrew Dunbar The modern day inventory manager described in this series is the backbone of your company’s inventory planning process. She has a strong understanding of supply chain fundamentals and is an expert at controlling the key levers impacting the inventory company’s investment in inventory. If you leave her to build reports and metrics that she needs in excel then she’ll spend all her time crunching numbers instead of planning your company’s largest asset. MORE
As I mentioned in my previous post, Sales Dashboards – 16 Metrics for Manufacturers , a strategy for measuring business performance should also incorporate metrics that focus on the supply chain and other operational areas of the enterprise. MORE
The second part of Drucker’s quote, “if you can't measure it, you can't improve it,” really brings home the importance of having the right set of metrics. In the field of supply chain management, we have created an abundance of metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs). For the past 30 years I have been involved with multiple efforts to build a set of supply chain metrics and have learned a few things along the way. MORE
Delivery In Full On Time, or DIFOT, is a metric used to analyse how accurate and efficient your supply chain is. When it comes time to reassess the approved supplier list, then you can use these metrics to disqualify problematic suppliers and improve your own performance and supply chain. If you are measuring your own DIFOT scores as a distributor, you can use the metrics to promote your own success and ability to fulfil demand. MORE
Throughout the supply chain, the use of metrics to track and understand processes provides an invaluable resource for ensuring increased production and customer satisfaction. Additionally, the use of metrics fosters positive relationships with coworkers and adherence to rulesets and best practices for the respective third-party logistics provider (3PL). What Distribution Center Metrics Need Tracking? What distribution center metrics are you tracking or are not listed here? MORE
Using Logility, they first aggregated their enterprise inventory and logistics data with two external data feeds. Then they created a series of operating metrics to be used by managers as well as KPIs for reporting to executives. Inventory Thought Leadership MORE
3 Key Metrics for Measuring Supply Chain Performance Beyond Cost Reduction. Inventory measurement is critical and it is money after all in that it took a capital expense to procure. The goal is to keep inventory levels at a minimum to meet customer needs. Review Inventory turns and Return on Assets. For clarity, in measuring supply chain performance, we should be focusing on: inventory, working capital, and time. MORE
The effective use of a manufacturer’s inventory investment is an important determinant of the company’s success. Excess and obsolete inventory is a drain on resources, as is excessive safety stock. Managing an Inventory Investment. Inventory effectiveness measures the process that delivers the right part to the right place at the right time, while minimizing investment and meeting customer requirements. Using Metrics to Measure the Health of the Business. MORE
Creating a data-driven supply chain tracking important transportation metrics helps shippers respond and adapt as quickly as possible to known and unknown events. Why Monitor Transportation Metrics. Which Transportation Metrics Should Shippers Track to Manage Transportation. MORE
This month, we thought we’d dig in a little deeper and look into monitoring store-level inventory. It’s important to keep track of your traited and valid store counts to ensure you have sufficient inventory to cater to these stores (and especially if the store count changes). MORE
The obvious danger of this is that business rules and data governance often don’t exist from department to department or user to user, leaving an overall picture into the health of the business that is foggy because KPIs and metrics do not correlate across the organization. MORE
While Joe is trying to balance the feedback from Filipe and Frank, he is often asked to change his metric targets by his CFO named Lou. After two years of research, I think that we throw the supply chain out of balance and limit its potential through the use of traditional and functional metrics. It is for this reason, that I believe that the traditional SCOR Model metrics are problematic. Achieving Balance in Metrics. Last week, I held my new book in my hand. MORE
Given the more customer-centric demand-driven model – coupled with greater access to information – the metrics that manufacturers monitor to make improvements in operations become more focused and actionable. Inventory Turns, On-time Delivery and Fill Rate provide an overall indication of Operations and Supply Chain health, while other metrics such as Schedule Adherence, Supplier Quality and Yield provide more localized insight. MORE
Financial executives measure inventory health with metrics like inventory turns because they view the firm from a financial viewpoint - such as how much working capital is being tied up. But from an operational supply chain planning perspective, turns is a crude metric because it doesn’t recognize the difference between “good” and “bad” inventory. Gartner delved into this issue in a recent report, Build the Capability for Inventory Health Assessment. MORE
Why should we consider Promotion Planning in Inventory Management? Whether it be e-commerce, brick-and-mortar, or both, retail companies care about the inventory they keep. Therefore intelligent inventory management benefits the business results as well as the brand image. . MORE
by Andrew Dunbar Over the last several weeks, this blog series on Inventory Management has explored the objectives and roles of inventory managers and outlined several of the improvement levers available to them. This post will discuss some of the metrics and analysis tools that an inventory manager needs to identify risk and opportunities and to make intelligent decisions to optimize the performance of their inventory. Each metric requires context. MORE
GlobalTranz
JULY 1, 2021
Creating a data-driven supply chain tracking important transportation metrics helps shippers respond and adapt as quickly as possible to known and unknown events. Why Monitor Transportation Metrics. Which Transportation Metrics Should Shippers Track to Manage Transportation.
Kinaxis
JUNE 22, 2015
by Andrew Dunbar Over the last several weeks, this blog series on Inventory Management has explored the objectives and roles of inventory managers and outlined several of the improvement levers available to them. This post will discuss some of the metrics and analysis tools that an inventory manager needs to identify risk and opportunities and to make intelligent decisions to optimize the performance of their inventory. Each metric requires context.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
QAD
JUNE 25, 2019
The effective use of a manufacturer’s inventory investment is an important determinant of the company’s success. Excess and obsolete inventory is a drain on resources, as is excessive safety stock. Managing an Inventory Investment. Inventory effectiveness measures the process that delivers the right part to the right place at the right time, while minimizing investment and meeting customer requirements. Using Metrics to Measure the Health of the Business.
Supply Chain Shaman
JANUARY 7, 2015
While Joe is trying to balance the feedback from Filipe and Frank, he is often asked to change his metric targets by his CFO named Lou. After two years of research, I think that we throw the supply chain out of balance and limit its potential through the use of traditional and functional metrics. It is for this reason, that I believe that the traditional SCOR Model metrics are problematic. Achieving Balance in Metrics. Last week, I held my new book in my hand.
QAD
JULY 1, 2021
Total manufacturing costs showcase how much your company spent to produce its inventory in a given period of time. This is not to be confused with the cost of goods manufactured (COGM), which refers to just the cost of inventory that was finished and prepared for the sale in the period.
GlobalTranz
JULY 13, 2015
Throughout the supply chain, the use of metrics to track and understand processes provides an invaluable resource for ensuring increased production and customer satisfaction. Additionally, the use of metrics fosters positive relationships with coworkers and adherence to rulesets and best practices for the respective third-party logistics provider (3PL). What Distribution Center Metrics Need Tracking? What distribution center metrics are you tracking or are not listed here?
Logility
MAY 22, 2020
The obvious danger of this is that business rules and data governance often don’t exist from department to department or user to user, leaving an overall picture into the health of the business that is foggy because KPIs and metrics do not correlate across the organization.
Logility
AUGUST 7, 2017
Ask yourself, “Are your supply chain metrics bogging you down?” ” To manage a supply chain containing complex dependencies between teams, departments and partner companies across international boundaries requires a rich set of metrics. However, companies often have too many independent metrics that can cause conflicts amongst competing supply chain functions. Functionally isolated metrics lead to sub-optimized supply chain performance.
GlobalTranz
JUNE 14, 2017
The answer lies using these omnichannel supply chain metrics to carefully track and improve operations continuously. Inventory Accuracy. This is a simple key performance indicator (KPI), another name for metrics, to track. It refers to the in-stock or out-of-stock accuracy of supplier inventory. This KPI should be as high as possible, reflecting accurate inventory available for customers from suppliers. Other Critical OmniChannel Supply Chain Metrics to Track.
GlobalTranz
APRIL 25, 2016
3 Key Metrics for Measuring Supply Chain Performance Beyond Cost Reduction. Inventory measurement is critical and it is money after all in that it took a capital expense to procure. The goal is to keep inventory levels at a minimum to meet customer needs. Review Inventory turns and Return on Assets. For clarity, in measuring supply chain performance, we should be focusing on: inventory, working capital, and time.
The Smart Software
MAY 23, 2019
The post Quantum Inventory Theory? Blog Demand Planning Inventory Optimization Operational Analytics demand planning implementations efficient stocking ERP forecasting software inventory modeling inventory optimization kpi metrics overstock probabilistic modeling statistical forecasting supply chain analyticsPhysics at the quantum level is quite weird – not at all like what we experience in our usual macroscopic life.
|
Kinaxis
DECEMBER 3, 2014
Reason #6 Not effectively managing inventory. Reason #9 Relentless pursuit of one supply chain metric at the expense of other metrics. Yet, these are similar instructions as what is passed down to the supply chain from executives focused on a specific supply chain metric. One example that I’ve seen several times is around inventory targets. The result is a lower inventory level, but much higher expedited costs and reduced customer service.
Silvon Software
JUNE 11, 2020
The more challenging part of dashboarding, however, gets down to the actual metrics that should be included as part of a performance management strategy. Today’s post focuses on Sales metrics only. Basic Sales Metrics. More Complex Sales Metrics.
Silvon Software
JUNE 23, 2020
As I mentioned in my previous post, Sales Dashboards – 16 Metrics for Manufacturers , a strategy for measuring business performance should also incorporate metrics that focus on the supply chain and other operational areas of the enterprise.
Logility
JANUARY 26, 2017
The second part of Drucker’s quote, “if you can't measure it, you can't improve it,” really brings home the importance of having the right set of metrics. In the field of supply chain management, we have created an abundance of metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs). For the past 30 years I have been involved with multiple efforts to build a set of supply chain metrics and have learned a few things along the way.
Kinaxis
JUNE 29, 2015
by Andrew Dunbar The modern day inventory manager described in this series is the backbone of your company’s inventory planning process. She has a strong understanding of supply chain fundamentals and is an expert at controlling the key levers impacting the inventory company’s investment in inventory. If you leave her to build reports and metrics that she needs in excel then she’ll spend all her time crunching numbers instead of planning your company’s largest asset.
Supply Chain Shaman
OCTOBER 22, 2015
The impact of complexity on inventory is not quick. To help, today I want to share some of the insights from our recent Inventory Optimization study. Inventory management is a hot issue. Companies invest in project after project, yet inventory levels remain the same. In business there are many drivers of inventory, and the management of inventory levels requires discipline and a cross-functional focus. What Drives Inventory Effectiveness?
Unleashed
MARCH 9, 2021
This is often managed with the help of supplier management software or inventory management software. That’s where Procurement Metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) come into play. In this post, we’ll unpack ten top procurement metrics and why they matter.
Valogix
NOVEMBER 6, 2018
Achieving a well-balanced, efficient inventory is no small task as supply chain complexity is ever increasing. Understanding and using some basic financial and accounting methods along with an advanced inventory optimization solution will help get you there and keep you there How do you get there and how do you know when you have arrived?
QAD
MARCH 28, 2019
Inventory accuracy and minimizing stockouts are very important to customer satisfaction, but a few other metrics also impact the ability to meet customer expectations. Companies can use these metrics to help ensure they are doing everything possible to satisfy their customers at a manageable and sustainable cost. It’s easy to meet delivery expectations if you carry excess inventory, but it’s an expensive and impractical solution. Choosing Metrics.
GlobalTranz
JULY 20, 2015
Importance of Metrics in Reverse Logistics Management. To monitor progress against its reverse logistics management plan, a company needs metrics that measure the financial impact of returns on the firm and on other members of the supply chain. Measures such as amount of product to be reclaimed and resold as is, or percentage of material recycled, are examples of such metrics. Energy used in handling returns : This metric is used in sustainability programs.
Unleashed
SEPTEMBER 22, 2019
Delivery In Full On Time, or DIFOT, is a metric used to analyse how accurate and efficient your supply chain is. When it comes time to reassess the approved supplier list, then you can use these metrics to disqualify problematic suppliers and improve your own performance and supply chain. If you are measuring your own DIFOT scores as a distributor, you can use the metrics to promote your own success and ability to fulfil demand.
Logistics Viewpoints
JUNE 1, 2021
Why should we consider Promotion Planning in Inventory Management? Whether it be e-commerce, brick-and-mortar, or both, retail companies care about the inventory they keep. Therefore intelligent inventory management benefits the business results as well as the brand image. .
Logility
FEBRUARY 23, 2021
Using Logility, they first aggregated their enterprise inventory and logistics data with two external data feeds. Then they created a series of operating metrics to be used by managers as well as KPIs for reporting to executives. Inventory Thought Leadership
synchrono
JANUARY 31, 2017
LNS Research blogger Mark Davidson said, “When it comes to metrics, it’s often said that what gets measured gets done.”. Mark also writes: “Metrics that have the attention of business and manufacturing leaders tend to be those that get measured and improved upon by their employee teams.”. But are employees being rewarded for metrics that do not in turn reward demand-driven flow and the customer signal (both real and imagined)? Metrics for Action.
The Smart Software
APRIL 11, 2019
An inventory professional who is responsible for 10,000 items has 10,000 things to stress over every day. The post Stop Leaking Money with Manual Inventory Controls appeared first on Smart Software. Blog Business Policy Demand Planning Excellence in Forecasting Inventory Optimization Operational Analytics demand planning implementations ERP inventory modeling inventory optimization kpi metrics probabilistic modeling statistical forecasting supply chain analytics
AIMMS
FEBRUARY 20, 2015
Interview with Lora Cecere, Founder and CEO of Supply Chain Insights and Author of Supply Chain Metrics that Matter ( published December 2014 ). Metrics that Matter became a three year research project. I hired a research assistant to look at balance sheets and looked at performance and really tried to figure out which metrics mattered. We interviewed supply chain leaders and in the middle of that I decided that I would write this book, Supply Chain Metrics that Matter.
ToolsGroup
FEBRUARY 6, 2018
Financial executives measure inventory health with metrics like inventory turns because they view the firm from a financial viewpoint - such as how much working capital is being tied up. But from an operational supply chain planning perspective, turns is a crude metric because it doesn’t recognize the difference between “good” and “bad” inventory. Gartner delved into this issue in a recent report, Build the Capability for Inventory Health Assessment.
synchrono
MARCH 6, 2017
When we look at the organizations of today, words like efficiency and productivity get thrown around with little understanding of what is required to improve one of these measurements (metrics). Let’s discuss why an efficiency metric is usually not the right metric and what a Lean manufacturing expert does when measuring true value in the supply chain. This “lost opportunity metric” is now something that Lean manufacturing experts try to keep at the top of the list.
Kinaxis
MARCH 22, 2017
But the sheer complexity of supply chain networks, and the impact design decisions have on operational performance, makes supply chain inventory management aligning inventory investments with on-time customer delivery and margins a major challenge. The equivalent of 7% of America’s GDP is tied up in inventory, and accounts receivable and payable. Implementing inventory optimization. The challenges of inventory optimization can be immense.
Kinaxis
JULY 23, 2015
by Andrew Dunbar This post concludes my inventory management blog series. Throughout this series I’ve proposed an elevated role for the inventory manager that challenges the assumption that an inventory manager is a victim of his colleagues’ business decisions and plays only a limited role in formulating inventory results. Inventory management is not a stand-alone business process that occurs after other processes are complete. General News Inventory managemen
Logility
NOVEMBER 15, 2013
The production efficiency is one of several measures across the supply chain including inventory and customer service and profitability. Now, they care about how much inventory they are holding. Inside-out to outside-in is starting to turn. Anyone who has worked with asset intensive process manufacturers knows how hard it is to change the thinking about machine capacity utilization.
Supply Chain Opz
AUGUST 3, 2014
Supply Chain Metrics are one of the most important best practices in supply chain management because " You can''t manage what you can''t measure ". However, under certain circumstances, metrics are not used or implemented properly. This article will explain to you 7 kind of supply chain metrics that you should pay special attention to. 2) Utilization Metrics : machine utilization is a classic example of this kind of metric. It''s the inventory metric).
Supply Chain Shaman
SEPTEMBER 3, 2015
We were discussing the results of the planning benchmarking work that we have just finished, and I was sharing some insights on inventory management when one of the panelists emphatically stated, “Inventory is a waste to manage. We feel so strongly about this that we do not have an inventory planning role.” His feeling was that inventory is an asset to manage. Inventory is both. Inventory management is a complex subject.
SupplyPike
APRIL 29, 2020
This month, we thought we’d dig in a little deeper and look into monitoring store-level inventory. It’s important to keep track of your traited and valid store counts to ensure you have sufficient inventory to cater to these stores (and especially if the store count changes).
303 
Let's personalize your content