The vast majority of companies that maintain an inventory use spreadsheets and reports. Some companies have had their overburdened IT departments build them a custom solution. In the scheme of things, these choices may work for a time but after a while they become a barrier to successful inventory planning. So, do you stay with the manual burdensome current process or move to a better way to plan?
If you search you commercial off the shelf solutions, you will find many inventory solutions that may be even more confusing. Should you go with a point solution like a forecasting only product or go the full-blown has everything in it, including the kitchen sink solution?
Before deciding, think about your goals and abilities and ask yourself some questions:
- Is this company 100% focused on inventory planning solutions?
- Are their solutions 100% automated?
- Do they use forecasting algorithms right out of text books or are they developed from hard-earned real-life experiences put to the test at hundreds of companies over years?
- Have the owners and key staff of the company been inventory planners in their lives?
- Who designed the product the developers or people who have experience planning inventories?
- How long have they been offering inventory planning solutions?
- Do they have true inventory optimization algorithms?
- Have they published dozens of customers’ case studies showing real measurable results?
- Can they demonstrate their solution with YOUR data?
- Can they show YOUR real optimized savings right up front, Day1?
- Are their solutions used by hundreds of companies like yours around the world?
Many companies offer inventory planning add-ons or modules as part of a set of disparate solutions. They don’t focus on inventory planning and may not even have any direct planning experience of their own. Do you really want to trust you most important asset and resource to someone who has not sat in your chair? How good can the solution be if it relies on techniques that are more than 40 years old, like ABC or other multi-level classification systems?
Effective and efficient supply chain inventory planning teams are absolutely critical to meet the ever-increasing demands of customers. Teams are getting fired up to meet the company goals and deliver service excellence. There is a dizzying array of solutions and methods companies employ to manage their supply chain hoping to manage their unique challenges.
Advanced inventory planning and optimization software not only automates the entire planning process, it dramatically increases the positive cash flow of a company. By smartly reducing inventory investment, reducing stockouts, decreasing expedited shipping costs, and reducing planning time all contribute to more available cash. Add to that increased sales and productivity and the gains will also lead to an improved competitive advantage.
Checkout the intelligent, easy to use solutions from Valogix and see the difference to enhancing your competitive edge.
