The Definitive Guide to Inventory Management: Principles and Strategies for the Efficient Flow of Inventory across the Supply Chain

1. Introduction to Inventory

In June 2013 the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) released its annual State of Logistics Report. The document consists of several key logistics-related trends and data analyses that provide the reader with a snapshot of the emerging issues in the discipline and a source for benchmarking supply chain activities of a firm. One of the primary aspects of the report was the discussion of inventory trends. According to the report, inventories in the retail, wholesale, and manufacturing sectors all rose in 2012. Interestingly, retail inventories increased by 8.3 percent, more than twice the increase of wholesale inventories and more than six times that of manufacturing inventories. Likewise, inventory-related ...