It is indisputable that efficient supply chain management is currently of dominant importance in achieving market success. A well-prepared and aggressively promoted product is no longer enough. Competition creates a new situation where efficient organization of product deliveries and cost minimization while maintaining an appropriate level of customer service are the deciding factors. How to maintain a high level of service and minimize inventory is a difficult yet highly fascinating task. It is, in a way, reconciling fire and water. Our actions must often aim to achieve conflicting goals in order to ultimately reach the expected results.
Let us ask ourselves: how to maintain inventory in a distribution network to ensure the assumed level of customer service while simultaneously minimizing inventory levels?
First and foremost, we must meet the basic conditions:
• mutual, reliable, electronic exchange of information between all elements of the supply chain
• integration of planning functions for the entire logistics chain
• establishment of a central coordinator
• starting from the supplier – use of a single code for marking and identifying goods
• automatic registration of the movement of goods and collection of information about them.
• integration of planning functions for the entire logistics chain
• establishment of a central coordinator
• starting from the supplier – use of a single code for marking and identifying goods
• automatic registration of the movement of goods and collection of information about them.
It is obvious that shortages cannot occur for goods belonging to groups A and B, while for group C, the waiting time should be acceptable to the end customer. Many also distinguish group D as special-order goods – constituting a supplement to the offer.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 6/2004.