Three Pillars Of Inventory Management

According to (Relph, 2015) “Inventory is the stock of any item held in an organisation and the aim is, naturally, to have the right amount, in the right place, at the right time and the right cost (Relph, 2015, p. 7). For example inventory items within the dragon boat sporting industry would include; paddles, paddle bags, portable flotation devices, accessories and apparel, just to name a few. See Appendix A, Figure I – Catalogue of Products. The purpose of holding inventory in an organisation is simply because customers expect suppliers to have goods or provide the relevant services when they need them. As a matter of fact, most organisations keep a supply of inventory in order to maintain independence of operations, to meet variation in

2). Running a successful supply chain business relies on having the appropriate inventory systems in place to maintain the accurate balances of all items held at the warehouse or at the store. Hence, many inventory professionals within an organisation rely on the three pillars of inventory management to successfully run the organisation. These three pillars of are; inventory planning, inventory controlling and inventory balancing (Relph, 2015). See Appendix A, Figure II – Three Pillars of Inventory.

1. Inventory planning – This is basically determining the optimum levels of inventory for both today and the future (Relph, 2015). When there is proper inventory planning, an organisation will be able to recognise their inventory levels and can see what items are in more demand than the other. For example, once an organisation utilizes the three pillars of inventory, as for the inventory planning aspect, they will be able to know how much and what items are needed for the store and also which items are more in demand than others, in order to always have a smooth running business with satisfied

Hence, in order for an inventory management system to perform effectively and efficiently, they should have features that help define certain qualities and characteristics of the product or service. There are nine (9) key or most requested features that should be included within any inventory management system; supported by a survey conducted by Software Advice - a leading online advisor and research company (Hodges, 2017). Here are some key features inventory management