Operations Management: Inventory Management

Operations Management Training Program (Course 4 of 8)

What you'll learn:

• Match types of inventory with their description.
• Identify key characteristics and challenges of inventory management in service organizations.
• Match inventory valuation methods with their descriptions.
• Classify examples of inventory costs as being procurement, holding, or stock-out costs.
• Calculate the economic order quantity and the reorder point in a given inventory management scenario.
• Identify key characteristics of ABC analysis, MRP, ERP, and JIT.

The course on Inventory Management is part of the Operations Management Training Program which includes a number of eight sections also presented as individual courses for your convenience.

All companies need to acquire and maintain inventory to produce their goods or to provide their services. These supplies enable the company to function. Inventory can be made up of raw materials, work in progress, and finished goods. Inventory levels have to be managed carefully. A company must always have the right levels of inventory at the right time.

If a company has too much inventory, it ends up paying extra storage costs. But if the company has too little inventory, it may not be able to meet customer orders. Finding the balance between meeting customer demand and minimizing costs is crucial.

Monitoring and managing inventory are major concerns for operations management. Inventory managers must know how much their supplies are worth. And they need to know how much it costs them to buy and store those supplies.

Inventory managers also need to work out how much inventory to order to meet customer demand. And they have to know when it's time to order new supplies. Inventory management tools enable inventory managers to ensure they maintain optimal levels of inventory.

Inventory management is a very complex skill. Different companies use different inventory management strategies. This course aims to introduce some basic inventory management strategies. Companies can then apply these basic skills to meet their own inventory requirements.

That’s it! Now go ahead and push that “Take this course” button, and see you on the inside!