More than 30 supply chain managers from some 19 organizations pondered the issue at a recent MIT CTL roundtable. For many the key is effective change management - changing entrenched views on how inventory should be allocated and dispensed.
These attitudes often stand between you and your inventory management goals. Here is one example.
Functional prejudice. SC professionals frequently run into this one. Finance sees inventory as a drain on working capital, sales wants as much as they can get to please customers, manufacturing is oblivious, and purchasing wants to bulk buy at every opportunity. And senior management doesn't understand the trade-offs between inventory, customer service and cost.
