11 February 2026
Alliance Automotive Group is one of the leading providers of automotive spare parts, workshop equipment, original parts and services in the IAM sector. To optimise product availability and reduce excess inventory, the company decided to implement Slimstock’s supply chain planning platform.
In this interview with Michael Medic, Head of Inventory Management at Alliance Automotive Germany GmbH (AAG), he highlights how external risks, legal changes and location-specific requirements can shape inventory strategy.
Mr Medic, Alliance Automotive has a large range of parts. What challenges does your inventory strategy face?
Mr Medic: In principle, we face the same challenges as everyone else: storing the right parts in the right place, and doing so as cost-effectively as possible. It sounds quite simple, but it’s not. Of course, Slimstock helps us enormously in mastering this challenge in the best possible way.
How can the inventory strategy be effectively implemented in Slimstock’s solution?
Mr Medic: We have different customer structures. We have workshop customers, wholesalers and e-commerce customers. They all have different requirements in terms of inventory, inventory depth and breadth, and we really work at the location level to serve the respective customer base in the best possible way at each location.
What are the typical risks in inventory management?
Mr Medic: Looking back over the last four or five years, there have been a number of issues, from the coronavirus to the Suez Canal blockage and pirates, all things that cannot be planned for in advance. However, we try to compensate for this with our capabilities in conjunction with Slim4.
How do you prepare your procurement strategy for legal requirements?
Mr Medic: Part of immobility is, of course, knowing which parts are needed. Then, in close consultation with product management, we find out whether we even have the suppliers in our portfolio who can deliver these parts. With our POE background, we have a few other options, but of course there is close communication, as I said, with product management and sales, i.e. gathering information from the market and then converting it into a needs-based inventory.
What specific KPIs do you use to measure performance in inventory management?
Mr Medic: Yes, of course, availability is paramount. That’s what sales and customers are interested in, and that’s what we’re measured on. Availability is subjective, but we measure it objectively. In addition, we measure IO, or inventory turnover, to put it bluntly, which is something our finance department is very interested in. So, we must figure out the optimal solution from this whole mix.
