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

Master and apply both the technical and behavioral skills you need to succeed in any inventory management role or function! Now, there’s an authoritative and comprehensive guide to best-practice inventory management in any organization. Authored by world-class experts in collaboration with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), this text illuminates planning, organizing, controlling, directing, motivating and coordinating all the activities used to efficiently control product flow. The Definitive Guide to Inventory Management covers long-term strategic decisions; mid-term tactical decisions; and even short-term operational decisions. Topics discussed include:

• Basic inventory management goals, roles, concepts, purposes, and terminology
• Key inventory management elements, processes, and interactions
• Principles/strategies for establishing efficient and effective inventory flows
• Using technology in inventory planning and management
• New approaches to inventory reduction: postponement, vendor-managed inventories, cross-docking, and quick response systems
• Trade-offs between inventory and transportation costs, including carrying costs
• Requirements and challenges of global inventory management
• Best practices, metrics, and frameworks for assessing inventory management performance

• Basic inventory management goals, roles, concepts, purposes, and terminology, including periodic inventory, perpetual inventory, safety stock, cycle count, ABC analysis, carrying and stockout costs, and more
• Key inventory management elements, processes, and interactions
• Principles/strategies for establishing efficient and effective inventory flows
• The critical role of technology in inventory planning and management
• New approaches to reducing inventory including postponement, vendor-managed inventories, cross-docking, and quick response systems
• Understanding essential trade-offs between inventory and transportation costs, including the impact of carrying costs
• Requirements and challenges of global inventory management
• Best practices for assessing inventory management performance using standard metrics and frameworks

• Covers concepts, principles, terminology, elements, processes, strategies, technologies, linkages to other business functions, metrics, and more
• From the field’s leading practitioners and researchers: the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP)
• Supports all learning objectives of the Inventory Management module (Learning Block 1) of the CSCMP SCPro Level One certification

The Definitive Guide to Inventory Management is the most authoritative, complete introduction to planning, running, measuring, and improving inventory management operations.

Writing for both practitioners and students, the authors help you understand all facets of inventory management: definitions, concepts, structures, processes, trade-offs, strategies, and more.

You’ll find detailed coverage of new approaches such as postponement, vendor-managed inventory, cross-docking, and quick response systems. The authors illuminate contemporary global and local inventory challenges, review new technology options, guide you in implementing metrics, and show how to use them to manage trade-offs and optimize performance.

Dr. Terry L. Esper is the Oren Harris Endowed Chair of Logistics and Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management at the Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas. He also serves as Executive Director of the Walton College Supply Chain Management Research Center. Esper has been a faculty member at the University of Tennessee, the University of San Francisco, and the University of Verona (Italy). He has published several articles on issues associated with supply chain relationships and strategic supply chain management in leading academic and managerial outlets. In addition to his current role at the Walton College, Esper is also a member of the Education Strategies Committee for the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, serves as an Educational Advisor to the Health and Personal Care Logistics Conference, and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Supply Chain Management. Esper received both an MBA in transportation and logistics and a Ph.D. in marketing and logistics from the Walton College at the University of Arkansas. Prior to his academic career, Esper worked for Hallmark Cards as a Transportation Manager and for the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department in their Research and Statewide Planning Divisions. He is also a three-time recipient of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship and a former Eno Fellow.

Founded in 1963, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) is the preeminent worldwide professional association dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of research and knowledge on supply chain management. With more than 8,500 members representing nearly all industry sectors, government, and academia from 67 countries, CSCMP members are the leading practitioners and authorities in the fields of logistics and supply chain management. The organization is led by an elected group of global officers and is headquartered in Lombard, Illinois, USA.

1. Describe the basic concepts of inventory management and its essential role in meeting customer demand

2. Identify the key elements and processes in inventory management and how they interact

3. Identify principles and strategies for establishing efficient and effective flows of inventory across the supply chain

4. Explain the critical role of technology in planning and managing inventory

5. Define the requirements and challenges of inventory management on a global basis

6. Discuss how to assess the performance of inventory management using standard metrics and frameworks

  The most authoritative, up-to-the-minute guide to planning, running, measuring, and improving inventory management operations.