Bookshelf -- 'Essentials of Inventory Management'

March 14, 2011

Covers inventory-management concepts

This book serves as a basic primer on core inventory-management concepts, offering such information as formulas for computing breakeven points and profit margins, cycle counting, and calculating replenishment costs. The writing is straightforward and educational in tone, with questions and notes at the end of each chapter designed to reinforce the readers confidence in having understood the concepts.

What the book could use more of, though, are real-world applications, particularly in the way of case studies that illustrate how specific companies are benefiting from using these inventory-management techniques. While the basic information presented is solid and useful, the reader is too often left wondering how well these methodologies work on the shop floor and in the warehouse.

Although this is a second edition, the author missed a few opportunities to update the book, particularly on the technology side. The chapter on bar coding and RFID, for instance, doesnt say anything about GS1 standards or 3-D symbologies, and in its overall discussion of technology it seems curiously frozen in time back in the early 2000s, when the first edition was issued. Similarly, the book shies away from a discussion of lean manufacturing (only a single paragraph is devoted to the topic), automation, robotics, material handling, warehouse-management systems, sustainability initiatives or other topics that are very much part of the discussion when it comes to inventory management in 2011. Essentials of Inventory Managment Second Edition By Max Muller, AMACOM, 2011, 257 pages, $39.95

About the Author

Dave Blanchard | Senior Director of Content

Focus: Supply Chain

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During his career Dave Blanchard has led the editorial management of many of Endeavor Business Media's best-known brands, including IndustryWeek, EHS Today, Material Handling & Logistics, Logistics Today, Supply Chain Technology News, and Business Finance. He also serves as senior content director of the annual Safety Leadership Conference. With over 30 years of B2B media experience, Dave literally wrote the book on supply chain management, Supply Chain Management Best Practices (John Wiley & Sons, 2010), which has been translated into several languages and is currently in its second edition. He is a frequent speaker and moderator at major trade shows and conferences, and has won numerous awards for writing and editing. He is a voting member of the jury of the Logistics Hall of Fame, and is a graduate of Northern Illinois University.