Right-Sizing Distributor Inventory

Distributors live or die by inventory management. If your inventory is too low, you stock out and customers go elsewhere.  But if your inventory is too high, you waste money on storage and handling costs, hurting cash flow and profitability.

It is particularly challenging for “High-Mix” distributors, who stock hundreds or thousands of Stock Keeping Units (SKUs).  They usually have the worst of both worlds: inventory is too low for many SKUs, while simultaneously too high for other SKUs.

That is why Invistics provides distributors solutions that “right-size” inventory.  Our consulting expertise, along with our Flowlytics software suite, provide you the tools you need to ensure inventory are at the right level, for every Stock Keeping Unit (SKU): neither too low, nor too high.

Our Flowlytics software has advanced analytics to calculate optimal inventory levels for each SKU, based on your business conditions, incorporating all the inputs needed:

• supplier lead times and minimum order quantities,
• transportation delays and costs, and
• the challenges of uncertain demand, forecast error, and variability in demand, such as seasonality or promotions.

Once you have calculated these optimal inventory levels using our software, you can quickly pass these optimized inventory targets into your existing accounting software or inventory management software.  Or, if needed, you can load these inventory targets into one of our other software modules, which provide additional capabilities for end-to-end supply chain visibility, for Vendor-Managed Inventory or pull inventory replenishment, and/or for tracking of inventory metrics using lean manufacturing principles.

And you can choose: you can either have our consultants calculate optimal inventory levels for you using our software, or we can train your staff to use the software themselves, enabling your team to become self-sufficient and able to recalculate optimized inventory levels in the future as your business changes.

Most distributors we work with have optimized their inventory levels quickly, in just 2-4 weeks, using data they already had in their existing accounting software or inventory tracking software.  And because our software is available as a cloud-based subscription, they typically subscribe to the software as a pilot project, to prove the business benefits, without any large up-front investment to buy software, install servers, or consume precious time in your IT department.

Interested in talking with us, to learn if our solutions might help you right-size inventory?

Contact Us

Software Module	Description
Inventory Advisor  Video Demo:	Inventory Advisor calculates optimal inventory levels for distributors, to reduce stock-outs and cut working capital.It’s advanced analytics takes into consideration variability in supply and demand, but it can be quickly implemented using data most distributors already have available in their existing accounting or inventory management systems.
Flow Path Health Screenshot:	Flow Path Health provides real-time visibility into the extended supply chain.  It shows alerts inventory levels are too low or too high, and monitors the “health” of purchase orders and customer orders.Flow Path Health can automatically consolidate data from multiple systems: the accounting or inventory tracking system at the distributor, freight systems for inbound purchase orders, and even current inventory levels for your customers, providing automated, end-to-end supply chain visibility.
Pull Manager Screenshot:	Pull Manager allows distributors to implement Vendor-Managed Inventory, and/or pull inventory replenishment.Distributors can use Pull Manager to have their suppliers monitor and replenish inventory at the distributor, and the Distributor can use Pull Manager to replenish inventory at their customer(s).
Lean Insights Screenshot:	Lean Insights tracks key metrics such as inventory, customer service, and cycle time.Lean Insights consolidates data from multiple systems and even multiple companies – allowed you to measure the performance of your suppliers, or to track and improve your performance to your customers.