[Bad links updated or deleted]

Windows Tip: Remember to keyword search this or any page, hold your [ctrl] button down (lower left on your keyboard), and push the "F" key to bring up a search window.

  Inventoryops.com - Inventory Operations Consulting L.L.C.
This entire site has a wealth of information. Especially for those in or near material handling. Articles, Dictionaries [very informative], Books, and more are all available here.

 A companion site to that above is AccuracyBook.com, from there you can review Mr. Piasecki's book Inventory Accuracy: People, Processes and Technology: From David J. Piasecki CPIM Quoting the website: "Inventory accuracy starts with an understanding of the conditions under which errors occur and ends with error-resistant processes, intelligent use of technology, a well-trained and highly motivated workforce, and an ongoing process of continuous improvement. In between, there’s cycle counting, root cause analysis, process evaluation, user interface design, procedures, employee training, accountability, control methods, process checks, audits, exception reporting, transaction techniques, measurement, counting methods, bar codes, RF systems, speech-based technology, light systems, and software." The understanding of how inventory if off, that's the key, please review this, Dave has a great outline and sample pages you can view.

The Distribution Team: Newsletters
This site has in the past been a good one for almost anyone interested in inventory information. Through there newsletters you're able to read small articles by Gordon Graham, Abe WalkingBear Sanchez, Scott Stratman, and others. You might also review some of the products and services the "Team" offers as well. For current practitioners, this is a good site to review fully.

ROI Calculator - Yes it's an executable, and no it's not a virus I found this at a website called BT Smith and Associates, they appear to have been replaced by Focus Forcasting, I've tried to email them for permission to post this and got nothing. So what the heck. Try it out, cute and informational for some.

Charlie's White Papers
Mr. Bodenstab, after thirty years as an executive in the Fortune 500 world, acquired a failing distribution company, Battery & Tire Warehouse, which he turned around in the first year and sold very attractively ten years later. He has written a number of articles for INC Magazine, and has written the well acclaimed book "A New Era in Inventory Management".

Tips & Techniques
From Susan M. Recchia. Someone posed a question to me about the development of part numbering schemes, that question prompted me to look for sites that might deal with just that, and well, here we go! At this site two areas, "Are Your Part Numbers On Target?, and "The Description Dilemma" give some insight towards how part numbers should be created.

IMSC Inventory links
Maintained by Juni Gonzales, the site is similar to the Inventory Control Forum, in that it has links to inventory software, as well as some information of the importance of inventory control to business.

Lionheart Publishing Inc.
Lionheart Publishing makes a sizeable contribution to useful information on the web with their On-Line publishing, students and practitioners alike will find time spent reviewing this site is time well spent.

Lionheart has a new book available in PDF format called "Inventory Control (For People Who Really Have to Do It)" available here.

Lionheart Publishing Inc. "The Manufacturing Report"
An excellent (note I refrained from blinking text) on-line source for news and information in the manufacturing industries. Available are links to new articles, news, new products, other links including a link to their own search engine allowing you to quickly look for those articles most closely aligned with your needs.

APICS Magazine On-line
The APICS On-line Magazine. With many of it's articles hyper-linked, and excellent source of information, articles are available from current and past additions. You'll also want to review other resources available here including, buyers guide, software surveys, and more.

From APICS.org. Search APICS--The Performance Advantage On-line Edition
Looking for an article from a past issue of APICS--The Performance Advantage? Enter keywords, author, title, or subject in the field below. The text search engine will display a weighted list of matching documents, with better matches shown first. One of your best sources for inventory information, or articles on line.

National Distributors Services
It has a solid inventory control package (I use it), wrapped into a complete software solution applicable for many businesses.

Prophet 21 System
It has a solid inventory package, as well as a strong system applicable for many businesses. I have personally reviewed this package.

Management Technology America
Not a Graham recommended vendor, but a software house worth analyzing if your looking for a complete package. I have also personally reviewed this package.

Touchstone/2000 Version 2 - Inventory Management
Another Gordon Graham Based System. Note that the website has gone through extensive enhancements, complete with screen shots. You might also want to get a taste of their support style by viewing their on line Users Group agenda. Quoting the website "A comprehensive suite of sophisticated business management software applications for distributors".

WD & S Publishing, Forums for Parts Managers and More
Register here perhaps for the chance to converse with fellow Parts Managers in a forum listed here.

Manufacturing Internet Resources
There are a number of resources listed here that although not purely inventory related, are certainly close many of us who also work in the manufacturing industries.

The Dealer Of Tomorrow
For individuals in the parts industry. Ok, it isn't hardly related to inventory control at all. However Associated Equipment Distributors has some interesting information for individuals like myself who are in similar industries. When there, do a key word search, or "find" on "parts" once the page is fully loaded.

Inventory control - The EOQ
By J E Beasly, some sound basic inventory control information, centering around the EOQ thought process. Complete with diagrams for those of us who work on a visual basis.

Forecasting
By J E Beasly, Would you like to see the future? This could get you close. Forecasting is the estimation of the value of a variable (or set of variables) at some future point in time. In this note we will consider some methods for forecasting. A forecasting exercise is usually carried out in order to provide an aid to decision-making and in planning the future. More sound data.

Sample Questions
Think your good? Try answering some of these quickly ....

The Business Open Learning Archive:
A number of small pages and some excel files regarding inventory control, types of inventory, basic inventory math, inventory control systems, and Pareto [ABC] analysis. Please take a moment to review.

BOLA:Stock Control Systems
Follow the BOLA links around and you'll find more like this. In later updates, I'll be moving this upward next to the other BOLA links. As demand and lead times are variable, we can either a:) order fixed quantities of stock at variable times or b:) order variable quantities at fixed times

BOLA: Stock Control Mathematics
The Follow the BOLA links around and you'll find more like this. In later updates, I'll be moving this upward next to the other BOLA links. Management of Inventory: Stock Control Mathematics Stock Control Mathematics from BOLA again.

BOLA: Shareware and Spreadsheets - More from BOLA
These spreadsheet models are here for my Business Studies students so they may explore the formulae in the models,improve the models and undertake a range of "what if" exercises (and other convolutations!).

TinkerShop Inventory and Material Management
Hey this is interesting. Have a stocking question? Read this from Peter at Tinkershop.net ! Using this program you will be able to forecast your future inventory needs, calculate your inventory reorder point and determine the least costly order scenario. Just enter your past inventory levels ( demand ) and you are on your way. For different scenarios you need to provide only additional information. This program was written with JavaScript. I offer this program to you FREE ! If you have any questions, please let me know at mailto:tinkershop@tinkershop.net

The Stockroom
I really hope that all of you will visit this site, and pose questions that you may have that may benefit all of us. Sites like this are a rare opportunity for using the Internet as a tool for personal growth. The reason for this page? They've been disappointed with the lack of communication that they have with people who do what they do. They want to look at the issues (inventory) they face and maybe even get a response to them. That is what the Stockroom Stuff page is for.

Articles by Jon Schreibfeder
Their quote "It’s easy to change cash into inventory...the challenge is to turn inventory back into cash! From effectiveinventory.com (how's that for a name) we're given articles by Jon Shreibfeder, including; Accurately Measuring Customer Service; Why Is Inventory Turnover Important? Implementing Effective Inventory Management; Adjusted Margin - A Better Measurement of Profitability; Pot of Gold Turns to Lead (with Abe WalkingBear Sanchez); Make This Year’s Physical Inventory More Accurate and Less Painful; Do Your Employees Understand the True Cost of Lost Material? Ensuring This Year’s Physical Inventory Is a Success; Cycle Counting Can Eliminate Your Annual Physical Inventory! (a personal favorite of mine); and Vendor Managed Inventory: There’s More To It Than Just Selling Products

Adjusted Gross Margin, A Better Gauge of Profitability
From AED.net and Jon Schreibfeder, This site has given us several interesting articles.Does your gross margin directly relate to your profitability? Don't you experience costs, besides what you pay the vendor, in maintaining inventory in your warehouse? After this, you might want to do a keyword search at the same site, use "inventory" as your word for example. Keyword Inventory Search

Inventory Loss Prevention
More on "abnormal" shrinkage (does that mean that their is "normal" shrinkage? ) The causes of shrinkage are recognized as employee theft, shoplifting, and paperwork error. Other reasons for business losses, such as robbery, burglary, and vandalism, are separate problems. Shoplifting and internal theft are actually untold numbers of separate incidents of larceny adding up to billions of dollars of losses which are not listed in crime reports, except for the relatively few cases where arrests are made.

The Distribution Game
Hey! Who said there was no fun in learning! The Distribution Game is a simulation game of a two level distribution system. The player controls shipments from a supplier and from a central warehouse. The goal is to cost effectively manage the flow of goods to satisfy random customer demands at multiple locations.

Distribution Game Sample Screen
You might want to see what it looks like quickly so .....

Calculate the month of supply on hand of a contraceptive method
O.K., maybe keeping your mind on inventory control issues is a little hard some days. Perhaps this example of the practical implementation of inventory control guidelines will keep your attention. "Improving Contraceptive Supply Management" All kidding aside, this is a good object lesson for many new to the demands of keeping an inventory up. Once here, scroll around the same page, all of it is good information.

Free Oliver White Paper Downloads
You'll have to register for access, but it's free. I can't tell you how much I appreciate companies improving the worth of the OK by providing useful ideas, and interesting reading. This listing of articles and white papers is published by Oliver Wight consultants and associates. Their quote "Our goal is to make this site an invaluable resource for anyone interested in discovering how companies can achieve higher levels of business performance."

International Inventory Survey
Professor Sameer Prasad of the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater is authoring a inventory survey. Professor Pradad has allowed me to add a link to that survey.

In my correspondence with the professor, he wrote about the survey

"The purpose of the survey has been to benchmark inventory systems across regions of the world. Currently we have collected data from 45 companies in Latin America, N America, Europe & Asia.

The results of the survey indicate differences in the way firms view infrastructure, government policy on the effectiveness of inventory systems (such as inventory turns).

If you are interested in filling out the survey (I would prefer to mail it - you can use the web to guide you in the process), I can benchmark your company's inventory system to the aggregate data from firms in the US, Europe, Latin America & Asia. There is no cost to your organization other than providing the data (which is kept confidential). In fact on the survey there is no need to even indicate the company's name."

If you'd like a form mailed to you contact the professor from his home page, otherwise be part of the study and go through his survey on line.

How Many Inventory Turns Should I Get?
From Charles J. Bodenstab. "I am frequently asked this question of, How many turns should I be getting from my inventory. I have been very wary of responding to the question, however, since there are so many factors that influence the answer. The frequency at which you can order product, vendor lead times, vendor reliability, minimum order quantities, breadth of the line being stocked, all impact the final solution. Finally, the efficiency of the inventory management software that you are using has a profound impact."

Inventory Reduction: Getting Lean, Mean and Effective- by R. Michael Donovan
Quoting the first paragraph .. Companies today must be fast and nimble enough to react quickly to changes in customer demand and do it with little inventory. Gone are the days when manufacturers could stockpile large quantities of raw materials; load-up the shop floor with work-in-process; and, pack warehouses with finished goods. The old ways are fading and fast. The old ways cost too much, require too much working capital, and contribute to erratic and longer lead times. The article includes "assessment questions are intended to assist executives to evaluate their circumstances". Worth a quick look. Try!

Why The Controversy Over ROI from ERP? - by R. Michael Donovan
It is very common for companies to take a big leap of faith with ERP and supply chain management systems. And, unfortunately, more than 90 percent of the companies that have implemented ERP have not had a truly successful implementation the first time around. Despite the recent rash of articles about the limited returns from ERP, however, the ROI potential is there.

Supply Chain Management Plan To Succeed - by R. Michael Donovan
As customers and suppliers band together in mutually beneficial partnerships, the need for better supply chain management processes and systems is more evident and becomes a very high business priority. For many companies, it has become clear that a supply chain that flows information and material best can be a significant differentiator, the competitive winner. All the way to the board-room, improving supply chain management is getting lots of attention because forward-thinking management knows it is the best strategy to increase and maintain market share, reduce costs, minimize inventories and, of course, improve profits.

Successful ERP Implementation The First Time - by R. Michael Donovan
Selecting and implementing a new ERP system, and the process changes that go with it, is unquestionably a complex undertaking. Regardless of your size and perceived resources, an ERP implementation is not something that should be approached without a great deal of careful planning.

Two articles from Michael Donovan
These seem to be unavailble yet at Mr. Donovan's website. Click here to get the two Word documents in a zipped format. The two articles are as follows:

Title: Inventory Reduction: Effectively Turning Excess Into Cash by R. Michael Donovan
Description: Reducing inventory by lowering excess levels is the theme of this article by consultant R. Michael Donovan. He also provides access to an inventory reduction methodology.

Title: Using e-Supply Chain Management To Supercharge Your Business by R. Michael Donovan
Summary: Can you move your business into the fast lane with an e-Supply Chain Management Strategy enabled with the Internet? Absolutely. However, there are some important caveats. According to management consultant, R. Michael Donovan, getting the right strategy and supply chain processes in place so that an Internet enabled system will, in fact, do the job it is designed for requires having a well-defined plan for servicing and retaining customers, and for improving return on investment.

FREE BOOK OFFER - Strengthening Manufacturing Weak Links by R. Michael Donovan


Quoting the website: "This information packed executive primer is about the problems, opportunities and solutions for increasing the operating performance of manufacturing companies. Areas covered include: cycle time reduction, customer service, decreased inventories, lower costs, higher throughput, supply chain management, enterprise resource planning among many other important topics. The book contains numerous self-diagnostic checklists to assist executives to more quickly evaluate their company's situation and, most important, develop action plans for improvement."

Research: Working papers
With credit to Gerard Cachon, Associate Professor of Operations Management. There is a huge supply of inventory related papers here. Most available as downloadable *.pdf files. You'll need Adobe Acrobat to read them. Here's a sample of some of those titles. Competitive and Cooperative Inventory Management in a Two-Echelon Supply Chain with Lost Sales, Managing a Retailer's Shelf Space, Inventory and Transportation, Contracting to Assure Supply: How to Share Demand Forecasts in a Supply Chain, Service Competition, Outsourcing and Co-Production in a Queuing Game, Stock Wars: Inventory Competition in a Two Echelon Supply Chain with Multiple Retailers, Supply Chain Inventory Management and the Value of Shared Information

Kanban-an Integrated JIT System - By Johan Olsson
Japanese are good at manufacturing. Just ask any global producers of automobiles, copiers, or personal electronics what happened in the 1980s.

Materials Management Distribution - Canada's Total Logistics Magazine
If you do a keyword search against their archives, you'll likely find a wealth of reading possibilities. Thanks MM&D. MM&D is a supply chain management magazine, whose editorial mandate is to inform, educate, and help readers involved in the dynamics of integrated logistics do their jobs more cost effectively.

The Poisson Pit!
Here is a site that shows a table illustrating Poisson probability based on your input. Quoting the site: "Variously called the Poisson Distribution, Poisson Law of Large Numbers, or Poisson Distribution for Rare Events, the probability function for this discrete distribution of one parameter is given above. The Poisson distribution is usually employed for modeling systems where the probability of an event occurring is very low, but the number of opportunities for such occurrence is very high. Take radioactive decay (right, no you take it), for example. Or rare disease clusters."

The Poisson Distribution - From Charles Stanton of California State University San Bernardino
Use Sharks! to illustrate Poisson in use! In this applet, R. A. is fishing at Mentone Beach and observing the number of sharks seen in area one square mile in different one hour time periods. Use the "Fish" button to run the applet. Quoting their descriptions "The Poisson Distribution is a discrete distribution which takes on the values X = 0, 1, 2, 3, ... . It is often used as a model for the number of events (such as the number of telephone calls at a business or the number of accidents at an intersection) in a specific time period. It is also useful in ecological studies, e.g., to model the number of prairie dogs found in a square mile of prairie". Follow their link to other applets as well. Thanks to these folks for the public tools.

GMROI or Gross Margin Return On Inventory
I was asked a question recently about the formula for ROI, or GMROI, it reminded me that I had found a table once at Cascade.com that did a terrific job of explaining it. Here, quoting the opening paragraph of the webpage: "GMROI stands for Gross Margin Return On Inventory. Some people like to think of it as "gross margin return on inventory investment" or gmroii. However, GMROI is a measure of gross profitabilty of an item. It really means what it says. If your software does not track it, do not fret. There are two ways of calculating it" It goes on to do so, check it out!

BarCode1 A Web of Information about BarCode
They have structured the site to help you find what you are looking for. This site has eight main areas; books and magazines, shareware, search sites, statistics and more. A great starting point if your researching barcode information.

Cycle Counting's Role - Inventory Record Counting Accuracy
Articles from Robert A Stahl, CPIM. Including: Introduction, Cycle Counting-A Form Of Quality Assurance, Types Of Cycle Counting, Control Group Cycle Counting, "Random" Cycle Counting, Just-In-Time Effect, Summary

Vendor Managed Inventory
Looking for information on VMI? Here's a site managed by John Taras CPIM that talks about what VMI and EDI are. It goes through benefits and pitfalls, answers questions and lists a few web based articles. Certainly worth your time in review.

S F T Inc, The Home of M.R.P. III On The Web
Do you want to know more about MRP? Want a lot of good information quickly? You'll want to review this site. Easy to navigate, interesting to read. I'll quote their words here to introduce the content: "Material Requirements Planning, or M.R.P., has been officially around since the 1960's, with the advent of the use of computers in the manufacturing environment, though the basic principles involved in M.R.P. are an integral part of the manufacturing process itself. However, by defining what 'M.R.P.' is, companies and software vendors are able to adapt a standardized set of methods by which they can schedule delivery of raw materials against the manufacturing schedule, thus keeping their assembly lines moving while at the same time minimizing the amount of inventory on-hand."

GMROI Worksheet - Rethinking your Store's Profitability
I found this worksheet again while walking through searches that led others to this site. R & T Furniture Distributors offers it at their website as a way to have retailers "re-think the way they evaluate store profitability". You'll find links to an example and a blank template that you might be able to manipulate to something closer to your needs. It is a good exercise, some practitioners may have to ask if they have any idea at all what answers the worksheet might give them.

Poor Inventory Control: When is Enough, Enough? - Chuck Walker
A good article going over several areas that are key to inventory control, and what can go wrong in those areas that lead to as Mr. Graham puts it "inventory correction". Found at the AGHLC website.

Inventory Control For Buyers
An article that talks briefly about looking at the purpose of you inventory, understanding the need for it, and then determining if you've thought of all the alternatives. The article is found at Innovative Purchasing website. If you follow the link back to their index page you'll see a number of other purchasing articles available for reading on-line.

Articles & Presentations on Business & Manufacturing Improvement
If you'll excuse the sloppy copy and paste here, I wanted you to see a listing of the articles available at this site. Our thanks to InventoryOps.com for the suggestion! - Here is a quote from the linked page: You are invited to download the following articles on business and manufacturing improvement written by members of the ACA Group. If you would like more information please feel free to use the Contact Us page or e-mail the author direct.

Warehouse, Logistic, and Inventory Essays or Monographs
From Tompkins Associates. A large list [30 essays] regarding issues such as warehouse management, designing a distribution network, Inventory the unwanted asset, the economics of order picking, the ins and outs of cycle counting, etcetera. You have to fill out their form, choose the titles you want, and download them in PDF form. You'll need the Acrobat reader to view them. Thanks Louis Mantilla for recommending this site, it's a great one.

Using Your Computer For Inventory Control
From Robert Moskowitz and www.knowledgetree.com. An article I previously had linked here is back. This is a very good, common sense based article on the use of the computer in inventory control. Robert Moskowitz is a business consultant based in Woodland Hills, CA, who writes frequently on productivity, office automation and technology. He is the author of The Small Business Computer Book -- A Guide in Plain English, available from Key Publications at 800-735-0015.

Inventory Control - A Public Community
Is your inventory controlling you? Let's talk about it! No this isn't the other MSN Community, it turned to garbage as the owner apparently abandon it. You're welcomed to join, hopefully it will develop into something over time.

IXQUICK Search Results - For Shareware POS/Inventory Control Software
Many of you are asking for recommendations regarding IC Software that you can try out. This link will use MetaCrawler and put you in touch with several examples of POS/IC shareware versions. Good Luck!

A quick thank you to the people at the Scout Report for Business and Economics for their listing of this site. Their site lists a biweekly report offering a selective collection of Internet resources covering topics in the field that have been chosen by librarians and content specialists in the given area of study.