Inventory takes on a lot of different identities within a manufacturing company, depending on who's doing the looking. An accountant sees inventory as an asset, a controller sees it as a liability, a production supervisor considers it a safety net, while a materials manager finds it a tightrope. One common aspect to inventory, though, is that everybody agrees that holding it can be costly. The following are a dozen ways to reduce inventory, suggested by supply chain consulting firm Cornerstone Solutions:
- Reduce demand variability
- Improve forecast accuracy
- Re-examine service levels
- Address capacity issues
- Reduce order sizes
- Reduce manufacturing lot sizes
- Reduce supplier lead times
- Reduce manufacturing lead times
- Improve supply reliability
- Reconfigure the supply chain
- Reduce the number of items
- Eliminate questionable practices
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