Inventory is seen as one of the biggest assets within any business and therefore it is essential that it is well maintained and controlled at all times. One of the most important reasons for controlling inventory within an organisation is the financial implications.
The main function of inventory is to allow the organisation to supply products or services to meet the customer demand. Therefore, it is essential to know what inventory exists across the supply chain in order to:
- Ensure that demand can be met as and when promised to the customer;
- Anticipate any issues that be may liable to occur that may impact on the ability to supply to customer demand; and
- Understand the value of inventory held by the organisation.
In most instances, inventory control will be facilitated by the use of Information Technology (IT) systems. Inventory control is usually carried out via a Warehouse Management System (WMS). The WMS will ultimately form part of the overall organisations Integrated Information Management System (IIMS).
