• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Executive Reporting: Understanding Inventory Performance Over Time

Executive Reporting: Understanding Inventory Performance Over Time

February 18, 2011
SupplyChainBrain

Analyst Insight: A remarkable number of executives attempt to manage large inventory investments with lots of data but very little information -just pages full of numbers, none of which is very meaningful without (often significant) effort. And, frequently, it's just data from the current period, minimizing the possibility of understanding whether performance is improving or declining except by working from memory at the very highest levels. The firm's owners, and the executives in charge, deserve much better.

-Ralph Cox, principal at Tompkins Associates

Surprisingly, in some very successful firms, the simplest questions are the most difficult to answer - basic questions regarding inventory cost and customer service performance. For example, reasonable questions, like the following:

"Are our order fill rates up for every safety stock class in each DC over the same time last year?" or

"Were our promotion lift forecasts more accurate for all product families this fall than they were last spring?"

If the answer is "no," the next question is sure to be "why?" Then the emails commence. Heaven forbid that the executive would want to understand to what extent each of the underlying driving forces or root causes contributed to any change.

The lack of easily accessible, meaningful information and the associated impediments to insight into inventory performance over time is a weak link, waiting to fail and hurt the bottom line. Selecting what to report and, perhaps more importantly, at what level of product, organizational and logistical aggregation to report and with what drill-down capability is an art.

Creative and thoughtful exploration of options - especially with the actual figures - can yield important possibilities. Having useful reports that provide quickly comprehensible performance change from season to season is a necessity for good inventory decision-making. The best reports are graphical and dynamic via the use of menus.

The Outlook

Business intelligence and data warehouse query tools have great potential for assimilating data and displaying just what is needed. The best of them are flexible and easy to evolve as events unfold - a crucial differentiator. However, the first step is recognizing the importance of viewing and understanding performance over 12 to 24 months to provide context. Then, expect clearer information from your systems and organization. The data is all there, but you need understanding - something infinitely more valuable.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Logistics Global Logistics Logistics Outsourcing Transportation & Distribution Technology Inventory Planning/ Optimization Global Supply Chain Management All Warehouse Services Warehouse Management Systems
KEYWORDS All Warehouse Services Global Logistics Global Supply Chain Management Inventory Planning/ Optimization Logistics Logistics Outsourcing Supply Chain Analysis & Consulting Technology Transportation & Distribution Warehouse Management Systems
  • Related Articles

    Container Lines Show Marked Improvement in On-time Performance in Three Main East-West Trades

    Inventory Controls Boost Home Depot's Economic Performance

    On-time Performance of Ocean Carriers Continues to Improve, Especially in Main East-West Lanes

  • Related Events

    Driving Supply Chain Sustainability: The Role of Real-Time Visibility Using Vehicle and Location Data

  • Related Directories

    SnapFulfil

SupplyChainBrain

100 Great Supply Chain Partners Issue 2009

More from this author

Wake up to Coronavirus Updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • Coronavirus-watch-Armada

    Virus Update: Biden Unveils National Strategy; Pfizer Says It’s Willing to Sell Vaccine to States

    Coronavirus
  • Car Industry

    A Year of Poor Planning Led to Carmakers’ Massive Chip Shortage

    Technology
  • Can Employers Require Employees to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine? Part 1

    Watch: Can Employers Require Employees to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine? Part 1

    Coronavirus
  • U.S. Vaccine Rollout Hindered by Faulty Coordination, Messaging

    WHO Fumes at Western Drugmakers As China Fills Vaccine Void

    Coronavirus
  • COVID-19 Vaccine

    Vaccine Disparities Raise Alarm as COVID-19 Variants Multiply

    Coronavirus

Digital Edition

Scb home issue 27

2020 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • LSP Saves Customer $1.5 Million a Year With MPO Global Inbound Management

  • Auto Supplier Wows Key Client Using riskmethods Supply Chain Savvy

  • Integrating Shipping and Compliance Saves Conglomerate Millions

  • How a Consumer Goods Giant Upped Its On-Time Delivery Performance

  • LSP Wows Global Client, Quickly Advances to Become End-to-End Provider

Visit Our Sponsors

6 River Systems ArcBest Armada
aThingz BluJay Burris Logistics
DSC Logistics DCSA (Digital Container Shipping Association) DHL Resilience360
Genpact GEP Honeywell Intelligrated
Infor Logility Magnitude Software
MPO Old Dominion Oliver Wight
OpenSky Ports America Purolator
QAD Precision Red Classic Riskmethods
TGW Systems Transportation Insights Watson Land Company
Westfalia Technologies Workjam Yang Ming
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright © 2016 - 2018 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing