It’s a given that maintaining inventory is costly on many levels, the least of which is the notion of stagnant inventory and/or raw materials becoming obsolete before your very eyes. In working inventory control, there is often a fine line that marks the threshold between having too much on-hand inventory and not having enough to ensure on-time delivery.

In the modern supply chain, planning for sourcing issues and automated purchasing puts manufacturers on better terms when it comes to real-time inventory management. However, as lead-times become increasingly reduced and demand levels usually unpredictable from one month to the next, inventory management is integrally connected to the notion of profit margin. What is necessary is to begin thinking of the “inventory area� as a potential profit center itself-to optimize inventory so it works for you, and not against you.

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