Inventory Planning Blog

Web-based demand planning and optimization products help companies reduce costs, increase productivity and offer a very quick ROI.  In concert with a cloud-based ERP system like NetSuite, provides the users with an automated easy to use product. Planning and managing any inventory is a serious challenge and one that can be rewarding if done correctly and efficiently.  Automation of the entire planning process from forecasting to replenishment to optimization and analytics is critical in order to keep up with the changes in demand and supply. 

Web based inventory software for business is becoming more plentiful. Solutions specifically built for the web are in great demand around the world. Take for example, Australia and New Zealand, which are experiencing not only increased demand but an increase in the number of available web based inventory software applications.

Spare parts have an important life cycle

The graphic below shows the important milestones in a part’s life cycle. These have an impact on inventory planning for each item.  This section examines how those milestones impact parts planning.

Multi-location inventory planning adds complexity.

Companies approach their parts inventory planning in many different ways - from seat of the pants guessing, to team collaboration, to spreadsheets that may invoke more team collaboration and manual changes, to forecasting software and some to advanced planning solutions. The more parts and locations you need to plan, the more complex.

This will be the first in a series of articles covering spare parts inventory planning using advanced technology solutions.

Inventory planning managers are looking for simple ways to reduce waste and improve profitability.  It is becoming more apparent that advanced technology can dramatically help but the technology must be affordable, quick to implement and have a high rate of return (ROI).

Discover an affordable, seamlessly integrated inventory planning optimization solution to SAP Business One for small and midsize businesses. A solution that frees up your resources (including cash), reduces losses from obsolescence, and increases service levels. The tools you need to forecast, plan, and optimize inventory, manage your business more efficiently and meet the demands of customers and suppliers are powerful and affordable.

Happy New Year!  2012 brings the promise of improving global economies. Balancing short term resilience with longer term needs is what is needed now.  Reducing costs, buying less, increasing productivity, improving cash flow is important, and to keep these inventory objectives balanced and in perspective you need an efficient way to optimize these important business demands.   Improve your competitive advantages responsibly and efficiently with inventory planning optimization solutions.  Waiting until its too late in your ordering cycles will invite your customers to investigate other opportunities, and that can happen by making the reduction of the wrong item at the wrong time.
 
If your company tends to reduce items with the highest investment because it creates a larger reduction faster, what it actually does is creates potential stock outs, higher backorders and increased expedited shipping – and, even more importantly, customer dis-satisfaction.  We all know that when customers are unhappy they become former customers.  Randomly cutting inventory has been proven time and time again to be the wrong strategy as does overstocking your inventory.

There are a lot of inventory planning solutions available from all types of companies around the world.  Many are designed for large enterprise companies as they cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and are highly complex. Some so complex a math or science degree is required just to operate the system. Others at the low end may be just point solutions for just forecasting, as an example, or offer individual modules you need to buy separately.

Did you know that certain inventory planning solutions are easier to use than ever? Until recently Small and Mid-size Businesses (SMB) did not have affordable, easy to use software tools to help them effectively manage and balance their inventory investment. Software solutions that forecast, plan and optimize an inventory are found in widespread acceptance in large enterprise companies but these solutions can cost between hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, take months to implement and are generally not affordable or usable by SMBs.

In these challenging economic times, it is important to make use of every tool available to cut costs and improve after-tax profits. You may have the ability to deduct 100% of your investment in IT, meaning hardware and software purchases made by December 31, 2011.