Why Inventory Management is Vital to Supply Chain Management

Every business relies on supply chain management for effective transportation of the raw materials and delivery of the products to the customers. This helps in instilling a good customer and supplier relationship and is considered a vital essence of supply chain management. Inventories are a vital asset of a company and hence proper management of the company’s inventories is extremely crucial. It also plays an equally important role in supply chain management and therefore deserves to be managed with efficiency. In fact, inventory management is one of the most essential features added to the supply chain management software solution for improving overall efficiency. To understand the importance it holds in the supply chain management of a company, you have to dive deep into the concept of inventory management and its role.

What is Inventory Management?

Inventory management is all about identifying the different inventories and goods and the quantities of each that need to be stocked up and also the time when it should be needed. In fact, inventory management makes sure to track and manage inventories right from the purchasing to the selling of the goods. The management of the inventories of a company is all about ensuring that there is enough stock of goods to cater to the customer order and also identifying if there is any kind of inventory shortage in the warehouse that might affect the order supply of the customers. The right kind of inventory management system integrated with the supply chain software solutions makes sure that all these things related to the inventories are in order and are managed effectively.

Understanding the Benefits of Inventory Management

Not just the inventory management aids in maintaining the stock of the concerned company, but it also makes sure to prevent the risk of stock out thereby hitting the company sales and revenue. However, there are some additional benefits that come with inventory management as a result of which it has gained considerable importance.

• Improves cash Flow:

One of the essential benefits of investing in the right inventory management system as proper inventory management makes sure that the amount is spent on the inventories that would be sold out and in a way enable a constant cash flow in the business.

• Saves Money:

The chief agenda of every business is to invest in the right tools that also help in saving money. Therefore with inventory management, you can easily get an idea of the stock trends that enables you to track the stock location so that you can use up the ones before it gets obsolete.

• Improves Customer Experience:

Although inventory management doesn’t help with customer experience directly, but it helps in smooth supply chain management thereby enabling a business to deliver improved customer service. The customer experience is hassle-free and fast as it makes sure that the customers receive the products that they want and as fast as possible in a stipulated time.

Why Is Inventory Management Important for Supply Chain Management?

Most of inventory management system makes use of Artificial Intelligence in order to restrain and control the power of the data. This enables you to analyse the various trends related to the logistics, raw materials along with warehouse operations smoothly so that it can lead to better adjustments in the smooth flow of the supply chain. With big data, you can easily make out predictions of the future trends that are going to rule the market.

Inventory management is highly crucial for the planning of the entire supply chain of a business. With the latest development in the technological field, there have been innovative and modern advancements in supply chain management software development. This is further leading to the addition of different complex layers to the inventory control.

No wonder the most challenging role of inventories in the supply chain process is balancing out the supply and demand that goes on in the process. In order to manage the entire flow of supply chain management of a company effectively, businesses need to deal with the ongoing customer demand and supplier exchanges. This becomes difficult to manage at times and the strategic information is what helps in creating the balance for an improved inventory management.

The best way to deal with the supply chain management process is with the adoption of modern technology. If you have already invested in customised supply chain software solutions, it will enable you to strike a requisite impact on the supply chain management process that includes effective inventory management as well. It will help you to save both time and the risk of errors in the process.

Conclusion: 

There are a plethora of strategic techniques that can be introduced for effective inventory management that helps in the proper supply chain management process. In fact, the chief aim of any supply chain management process is to keep the inventory flow smooth and steady. Techniques such as the demand-supply integration, ABC analysis, demand forecasting, reorder quantity, safety stock and others can be helpful while trying to maintain beneficial and well constructive inventory management for a business. Inventory management is a core and essential part of a successful supply chain and managing one will directly impact the other.