Utilizing Inventory Management Strategies for Optimal Inventory Levels

Inventory management is a common concern and challenge for many manufacturers and warehouse operations around the globe. This is could be due to inaccurate forecast, production inefficiencies, or ultimately a faulty inventory management strategy. As inventory is essential for some organizations and industries, it is also important to understand that there are methods to adequately manage the inventory and reduce costs.

Inventory management is deemed as a good practice for any company. If you are not keeping an eye on your inventory or counting stock on a regular basis, then you may be setting yourself up for potential inventory errors and challenges. Adequate and proper inventory management can take your business to the next level – or bring you down. This is why developing an inventory management strategy that is beneficial to your operation will only be beneficial to your organization and ensure that your inventory is properly managed at all times.

Advantages of A Good Inventory Management Strategy

A good inventory management strategy will improve forecasts and the accuracy of inventory orders. Proper inventory management will aid your organization through figuring out exactly how much inventory is needed to be on hand at a given time. This will aid with preventing product shortages and allow you to keep just enough inventory without having too much in the warehouse. The advantages pertaining to a good inventory management strategy include the following:

• Organization – Organization is key within a warehouse, because without it – you will spend a lot of time looking for product. If you are not organized, you will have a hard time managing inventory. Many companies choose to optimize their warehouses through putting the highest selling products together and in easily accessibly places within the warehouse. This will help in speeding up the process pertaining to order fulfillment and ensure that customers are happy
  
  
• Saving Time and Money – Inventory management can have real-time and monetary benefits through keeping track of which products are on hand or are being ordered, which saves a substantial amount of time in having to do inventory recounts to ensure that records are accurate. A good or beneficial inventory management strategy also aids with saving money that could otherwise be wasted on slow-moving products.
  
  
• Efficiency and Productivity Increase – With a good inventory management strategy, you will utilize inventory management devices and software that can greatly enhance the efficiency and productivity within an operation. These devices could potentially eliminate manual process to ensure that employers can focus on other, more important aspects pertaining to their business. 

PlanetTogether’s Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) Software is a must for manufacturing operations that are seeking to enhance overall operational efficiency and inventory management. PlanetTogether’s Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) Software can easily increase productivity and efficiency within a production facility and locate areas that are in need of cost enhancement such as inventory cost, downtime cost, and ultimately any production downfalls.

Advanced Planning and Scheduling Software 

Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) software has become a must for modern-day manufacturing operations due to customer demand for increased product mix and fast delivery combined with downward cost pressures. APS can be quickly integrated with a ERP/MRP software to fill gaps where these system lack planning and scheduling flexibility and accuracy. Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) helps planners save time while providing greater agility in updating ever-changing priorities, production schedules, and inventory plans.

• Create optimized schedules balancing production efficiency and delivery performance
• Maximize output on bottleneck resources to increase revenue
• Synchronize supply with demand to reduce inventories
• Provide company-wide visibility to capacity
• Enable scenario data-driven decision making

Implementation of Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) software will take your manufacturing operations to the next level of production efficiency, taking advantage of the operational data you already have in your ERP.

Video: Capacity Planning with APS to Optimize Inventory Levels

Effective inventory management strategies—including structured approaches like JIT, EOQ, and ABC analysis—help balance service levels with carrying costs. But to sustain optimal inventory levels, manufacturers also need accurate capacity planning that connects forecasts, production, and stock in one environment.

In this video, you’ll see how PlanetTogether Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) turns ERP/MRP data into capacity-aware plans that support your inventory strategy by:

• Translating demand and replenishment needs into realistic production schedules that prevent shortages and excess
• Synchronizing supply with demand so you can reduce inventories without sacrificing customer service
• Identifying resource and inventory cost “hot spots” (downtime, overproduction, unnecessary stock) to support continuous improvement
• Providing company-wide visibility to capacity, orders, and inventory so planners spend less time firefighting and more time optimizing

This video is ideal for inventory managers, production planners, and operations leaders who want to connect inventory management strategies with APS-driven capacity planning to improve efficiency and profitability.

Turn Inventory Management Strategies into a Better Production Plan

Choosing the right inventory management strategies—whether JIT, EOQ, ABC analysis, or a tailored mix—helps you avoid both stockouts and excess stock. But strategy alone is not enough. To truly reach optimal inventory levels, you need a planning and scheduling engine that uses real data to coordinate inventory, capacity, and demand every day.

Download our one-page “The Money Is in the Planning” infographic to see how combining your inventory management strategy with Advanced Planning & Scheduling (APS) can help you:

• Improve the accuracy of inventory orders and prevent product shortages
• Reduce slow-moving and excess inventory by matching production to real demand
• Use operational data from your ERP/MRP to identify where inventory, downtime, and production costs can be reduced
• Create optimized schedules that balance production efficiency, delivery performance, and inventory targets
• Support continuous improvement with better visibility into capacity, orders, and inventory across the facility

Share it with your inventory, planning, and operations teams as a quick visual guide to where better planning and scheduling with APS unlocks the full value of your inventory management strategy.