Case Overview
Harvey Industries is a Wisconsin company specializing in production, assembly, repair and the sales of high-pressure washer systems. Due to the death of the owner, the trustee of the bank Milwaukee Bank has taken control of the company’s affairs. Milwaukee appointed a new company president and he has identified several problems, one of which pertaining to the inventory control system. The new president requested recommendations among his employees on revising the inventory control system and detailed analysis as to why these changes are to be implemented. To improve the inventory management system the best way would be to identify the systems weakness and the impacts of which they are to the company financially. Harvey
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Case Summary
When creating an inventory management system, it is crucial to include team performance among employees of the inventory supply chain. The team should know what materials are needed and if possible find a way to reduce costs.
“Inventory management is a core operations management activity” (Stevenson, 2016). The Inventory Management and Control needs to be designed to meet the demand of the marketplace and still be able to support the company, and any plans to expand, etc. The structure of inventories is important for the supply chain in order to have an effective material flow and order fulfillment. In the case for Harvey Industries, the inventory control system would prompt the stockroom supervisor, purchasing and manufacturing manager to place orders for goods to be replenished, whenever one of them finds the materials have been depleted. Often, prompting trade-offs in inventory and poor inventory management results in a lower productivity value in operations, decreasing customer satisfaction resulting in an increase in operating costs.
Analysis
In the management of an inventory system it cannot be run with a sole single person who is responsible for managing inventory. It cannot be done as there are too many items to track and tons of information flowing through. So there is no
During the game, I realized that wide gaps in orders of every role in the supply chain such as factory, distributor and retailer create inventory management challenges. For example, distributor records 0units between week1-week 4 compared to retailer within the same period. The retailer records 3units, 5units, 2units and 2units between weeks 1- week 4. The same applies to factory with 0units from weeks 2-4. Addressing inventory management problems requires developing an average unit level to avoid disappointing customers when demand
Independent: the demand for the item is independent for the demand for any other item in inventory (EOQ)
In this final paper for Managerial Finance I will attempt to show how the supply chain inventory management method can be affected depending on the situation of the retailer. Studying the control method for problems in inventory, which would include both, excesses in inventory as well as shortages, and hoping to minimize loss.
To be successful in today’s business environment, an organization must be able to perform certain fundamentals accurately and efficiently. One of these elements is having an effective and efficient Inventory System Management (ISM). ISM enables one to have the knowledge of where his or her inventory is at every step of the way. This allows one to better interact with consumer and make sales. Choosing the right ISM can lead and pave the ground work for future business success and profitability.
“In an age of increasing specialization, it is rare for one person to be knowledgeable in all aspects of a complex task” (Thompson, 2015, p. 88). In this case, the first step was to understand our incoming demand. For this, I relied on information technology to generate numerous reports as well as the expertise of our sales team. It was at that point that the data was analyzed in conjunction with an inventory specialist. After we had the knowledge of what current product to inventory, we then needed to establish a set of guidelines of how to qualify products in the future. Inventory control management processes were instituted as well as a supply an auditing system. These steps included information from organizational members from our manufacturing group, planning department, and procurement department. Finally, we needed to understand and facilitate the storage and shipping of the product. We enlisted the help of our warehouse employees as well as our transportation department. This type of project included various levels of the organization and required a tremendous amount of communication. The project workload was enormous and also had a substantial financial investment associated with it. Instrumental in the project’s success was the team’s cohesion, diversity, and strategies deployed
The inventory and production departments also have issues. Currently, inventory is done by the receiving area supervisor confirming the shipping documents against incoming orders by hand. This allows for human error and is not a quick or efficient way to do inventory. The same process is used when production takes items from inventory. The inventory system is only updated once daily when new raw materials arrive and then again once daily from production when the raw material is used. The lack of tracking and checking in a timely manner leaves the organization’s processes at a higher risk of failure. The inventory system does not currently communicate with the sales or with the Finance and Accounting applications. This may lead to a
Tasks: What should Alison do? o Develop plans to improve the inventory management o Develop time-based supply strategies to bring competitive advantages to the organization Identify the functions and forms of inventory What are alternatives for inventory management? o ABC classification o Supplier-managed inventories (SMI) o Just-on-time or Just-in-time (JIT) o Enhance the forecasting system (factor correlated with inventory variation) Provide training programs for current and new hiring employees 1
This scenario does not give an internal control. Having one person responsible for ordering, keeping records and the inventory is leading to
Part of a business’s ability to become successful depends on the business’s ability to properly inventory merchandise needed in its operations. An organization inventory includes ordering, storing, and managing supplies needed to help the organization function efficiently. Improperly managing an organizations inventory can affect the organization profit, loss, and ability to operate. Rafferty’s Restaurant is an organization in which team C will research its inventory system. Team C will describe the Rafferty’s organization, inventory problems it faces, and expected benefits motivating
Inventory itself is a list of products that a company has available for sale to customers. So what is Inventory Management? By definition according to BusinessDictionary.com, “Inventory Management is policies, procedures, and techniques employed in maintaining the optimum number or amount of each inventory item”.
Managing what's in a warehouse or on the shop floor can be extremely complex if you're looking for optimal cost and supply chain management capabilities( Needleman, 2017 ). Inventory estimation and control is directly impacted a company’s profitability.
Inventory management has two very different, but effective methods: Vendor managed inventory, and consignment inventory. A company may choose to utilize either of these two methods to manage inventory. If a company is able to manage inventory, they will be better able to work the company's capital to the fullest extent. The following paper will identify the differences between the two as well as identify what type of company is best suited for each method.
Nowadays, in an era that has advanced technology and a place in the world. Everything can be linked only at your fingertips in the times of rapidly developing with the sophisticated technology of today. Therefore, an inventory system is also not lagging behind in introducing a method of keeping an inventory data systematically and safely. The system plays a very important role in improving the competitiveness of a business. Usually, organizations today face too many challenges to achieve the cost, speed and reliability. Efficient inventory system really help in order to make sure the store’s performance and data record is always in good condition and secured from abusers. The system basically to ease the admin to manage the
While our current operation is adequate to meet the bare minimum requirements or the organization, it is my responsibility to ensure the safe, effective, and efficient operation of both the inbound and outbound areas. With our innovator team in place, we are constantly looking for new ways to improve safety, increase quality, and perform more efficiently. Creating an inventory control team will allow us to meet all three of these goals, by actively and aggressively focusing on our inventory movement. We will invest time and training with each of the team members to allow them to safely succeed at optimizing the slotting of all
Inventory is a very important process and may be one of the most important factor in logistics. It is so important that it is the largest cost for a distribution agency. By saying this there is many reasons why inventory must be kept up with and be must made to be most efficient. In order to keep up inventory many process and steps must be made. Here are