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Automotive: why is it stalling over excess stock?

Over the years, demand planning and inventory optimisation have always been a hot topic for discussion. For many of these businesses, excess stock is both a major speed bump and something which causes headaches for management, finance and supply chain teams alike. While there are a few specific segments of the automotive aftermarket where excess

Amazon’s assortment: The-sky-is-the-limit

If you look at businesses like Amazon, Alibaba or even your local super market, it seems that the-sky-is-the-limit when it comes to assortments. While offering literally millions of different products undoubtedly gives customers plenty of choice, keeping up with these exploding ranges can prove a constant battle. In pursuit of a unique selling point, many

No more ‘gambling’ with inventory management

In Asia-Pacific, many auto-parts distributors are small or medium family-run businesses, often with legacy technology systems to track their inventory. A lot of manual processes are involved in their inventory management workflow, which results in specific but common inefficiencies across the board. The gambling game Because of so much opacity in the delicate balance between

Whitepaper: Unravelling the secret of EOQ

The EOQ formula from theory to practice in 7 steps This paper discusses an indispensable inventory management figure: the economic order quantity (EOQ). Your ordering quantities highly affect inventory height. Since they also influence the number of replenishments, they are an important influencer of your day-to-day supply chain operations as well. Therefore, the determination of the order

Supplier management: Establish more profitable supply chain relationships

It is the time for supplier management to really look back and reflect on relationships (or lack of…)!  There is never a better time to review your supply chain relations than now! However, clutching on to a bad relationship can cause great heartache. Likewise ineffective supply chain partnerships can prove extremely costly for your business.

Assortment Management: Complete an ABC-analysis

Make assortment management a priority! In this knowledge article we explore how you can strategically refine your approach to assortment management. Through adopting the following 4 simple steps, you will be better positioned to offer your customers the products they want while systematically removing the items put your finances under pressure: Analyse your assortment and

Enhance Supply Chain Collaboration within your organisation

While the sales team may expect consistently high levels of availability in order to satisfy customer demand, the finance team are typically more interested in inventory cost. Consequently, operational teams are under constant pressure to strike the balance between service levels and investment in stock. However, in order to ensure that supply chain decisions are

What is the real cost of your inventory?

Holding too much inventory has some potentially disastrous financial consequences. After all, money tied up in inventory cannot be used anywhere else. Furthermore, capital tied up in items that you can no longer sell (e.g. obsolete stock) may be lost forever. However, when you consider that there are further inventory costs associated with holding inventory

Nail down your assortment strategy

Customers expect suppliers to be able to provide anything and everything at a moment’s notice. In response to this demand, many businesses have exploded their assortment strategy to encompass many thousands of different SKUs. The problem is, however, how much do you really know about the items within the assortment? Do you know which items

How can you construct a more robust forecast?

Businesses typically rely on a global network of suppliers to satisfy the needs of their customers. Consequently, lengthy lead times of up to several months are the norm for businesses in this sector. As a result, suppliers and distributors of building materials depend upon accurate long-range demand forecasts in order to satisfy future demand. However,