CHAPTER 9

INVENTORY POLICY DECISION

Inventories are :


stockpiles of raw materials,
      
supplies, 

                                                       components work in proces

                             

         and 

finished goods 

that appear at numerous points throughout a firm’s production and logistics channel.

Inventories are frequently found in such places as warehouses, yards, shop floors, transportation equipment, and on retail store shelves.

There is much to learn about inventory management and this chapter is rather lengthy because of it. However, the subject can be viewed in three major parts.

Firstly- Inventories are most frequently managed as individual items located at single stocking points. This inventory control type has been researched extensively with methods for many specific applications. 

Second- Inventory control will be viewed as management of inventory in the aggregate. Top managers are particularly interested in this perspective because of their need to control the overall inventory investment rather than individual stock-keeping units. 

Third- Managing inventories among multiple locations and multiple echelons within the supply channel will be examined.