DALLAS--A proactive approach to total inventory management enables business leaders to achieve operational excellence and overcome industry challenges such as the lengthening global supply chain, fluctuating consumer demand and shortening product lifecycles. i2 Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITWO) has developed an innovative approach based on its experience in working with supply chain leaders to optimize inventory operations. Total inventory management is based on a current view of on-hand, in transit and on-order inventory, provides visibility to future inventory needs, and empowers companies with the ability to determine what inventories to carry, where they should be located, in what form (finished or unfinished), how much inventory to keep on hand, what replenishments to trigger, what shipments to expedite and when. With these types of inventory management practices and capabilities, companies can proactively make better decisions in response to unplanned demand or supply changes.
"Supply chain risk and complexity is leading companies to take a closer look at inventory management business processes. Many businesses are looking to take the next step in total inventory management and implement solutions that provide traditional inventory planning, multi-echelon strategic and tactical planning, visibility to enterprise inventory positions, intelligent alerts, and the ability to sense and respond to end-user demand,” said Steve Banker, Director Supply Chain Management, ARC Research. “This type of comprehensive solution can provide the total package for businesses looking to overcome the traditional and new generation business challenges they are faced with. I also see a lot of merit in knowledge-based outsourcing, specifically around these solutions due to their inherent complexity. If businesses outsource these solutions to experts such as i2, they are better positioned to focus on their core competencies."
With a combination of leading-edge solutions and an experienced team of professionals, i2 works together with its customers to develop an optimized inventory plan with timely visibility to monitor the plan effectively. The plan includes alerts to trigger inventory managers when inventory levels should be altered as well as a contingency plan for rapid response to unexpected bottlenecks or surges in supply and demand.
i2’s total inventory management approach provides a layer of supply chain visibility across the complete inventory lifecycle, as well as the ability to analyze point-of-sale data, profile buying behaviors and trends, and quantify risks and variability. Additionally, the solutions deliver modeling capabilities to span procurement, manufacturing and distribution with the ability to organize data by standard or custom attributes.
“For over 10 years, we’ve been working with companies to develop a set of best practices and approach to total inventory management enabling them to manage the risk and uncertainty inherent in global supply chains,” said i2 Vice President Razat Gaurav. “With true visibility and management, timely point of sale data analysis and the ability to segment inventory, our customers can continuously improve their inventory processes to increase inventory controls without sacrificing service levels. The total inventory management approach delivers inventory reductions, improved asset utilization and increased inventory turns to reduce risk and carrying costs while improving cash-to-cash cycles.”
Working together with industry leading companies such as Cooper Tire, the i2 total inventory management solution approach has enabled companies to gain the true visibility required for near real-time monitoring of orders, inventory and shipments across the supply chain. Working together with i2, Cooper was able to move from more than five different systems of record to a single system of reference for all inventory that is refreshed hourly. The company also moved from a push based inventory to a pull based paradigm. Cooper has seen many process improvements including enhancing its automated inventory transactions capture process, maintaining a single accurate inventory layer across the distribution network, and daily financial postings of finished goods movements.
“Total Inventory Management provides the needed visibility and timely transaction updates of inventory that all our other planning and execution systems rely on,” said Bob Sager, Cooper Tire’s manager of supply chain research and design.
i2’s approach to total inventory management begins with a strategic diagnostic process to establish key objectives and strategies and determine best practices and change management processes. Customers can then implement the solution in a traditional license model to incorporate a process build-out including integration with existing systems, or work through i2’s domain experts and outsource supply chain processes related to inventory management. i2 Operations Services can manage supply chain processes related to inventory management and build the services and solutions customers need based on desired business outcomes.
About i2
Throughout its 20-year history of innovation and value delivery, i2 has dedicated itself to building successful customer partnerships. As a full-service supply chain company, i2 is uniquely positioned to help its clients achieve world-class business results through a combination of consulting, technology, and managed services. i2 solutions are pervasive in a wide cross section of industries; 20 of the AMR Research Top 25 Global Supply Chains belong to i2 customers. Learn more at www.i2.com.
