These white papers are written by Jon Schreibfeder, president of Effective Inventory Management Inc. Over the past 20 years, Jon has helped over 1,000 companies improve their productivity and profitability through better inventory management. The author describes effective inventory management as the result of outstanding inventory control and inventory management. Many businesses wonder “what is the difference between ‘inventory control’ and ‘inventory management’?” Inventory control involves managing the inventory that is already in your warehouse, stockroom or store. That is, knowing what products are “out there,” how much you have of each item, and where it is. Inventory management involves determining when to order products and how much to order, as well as identifying the most effective source of supply for each item in each stocking location. Inventory management includes all of the activities of forecasting and replenishment. The most common question the author is asked is, “where do we start?” The answer is: You must begin with inventory control. Unless you know exactly what inventory is in your warehouse and that material is in usable condition, you can’t accurately determine when to reorder products. If you actually have more of an item than the computer’s on-hand quantity shows, you’ll reorder the product too soon and have excess inventory. If you actually have less than the computer’s on-hand quantity, you won’t reorder the product when you should, and the result may be stock outs and customer service problems. Note: These white papers are Portable Document Format files. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader here.
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