Klimatavtryck

In so many places we can get information about how to minimise the inventory, but how often do we follow these advise. Just recently I was reading a report from Aberdeen Group called "Inventory Management Technology Strategies for Distribution". In the report Aberdeen is conducting a research survey on inventory management technology adoption and ROI in January and February 2007 across 55 distribution companies.
In the research, the topics that are discussed are as follows:

Distribution Industry Improvement Opportunities
Inventory Management Organization Strategy
Other key process findings

Frequency of Network Design Evaluation
What are Distribution Companies Doing Within Network Design
Inventory Policy Revision/Review Frequencies

The Critical Role of Technology in Inventory Management
Recommendations for Action

Appoint a single end-to-end owner of inventory
Actively manage in-transit inventory through supply chain visibility
Start doing customer level forecasting for the key customers
Move toward supplier inventory collaboration
Leverage existing investments in APS/ERP systems to make sure that inventory
management

Here I have just pointed out the few points in the report, I urge you to read it in detail here

Software News

For those into software related solution for the inventory problem, Sockeye Supply Chain has released "New Application for Making Supplier Managed Inventory Work".

The “dynamic replenishment” module features an array of visibility and collaboration tools the vendor says have been missing from existing solutions. Emphasized is technology support that enables suppliers and the manufacturers to work together to dynamically address any inventory level discrepancies in real-time.

Sockeye says its solutions are being used by HP. The company also says its software helps companies avoid one of the challenges of supplier managed inventories, maintaining high availability of parts, which is especially difficult in high velocity supply chains.

The software goes into topics such as: