As demand for U.S. manufacturing rises and falls, optimizing inventory levels becomes even more important to effective planning and scheduling. If your plant personnel aren’t excelling at inventory management, read this article, in which PCA Director of Operations Dan Moss provides sensible strategies to help alleviate the strain.

Volumes have been written about how plants and other facilities are impacted by poor inventory management — and in particular, excess inventory of all types. Obsolete inventory is one of the culprits, and tackling it poses two specific challenges.

For many, the term “inventory management” conjures images of neat, orderly warehouses and storerooms. While well-organized storage is an important component of inventory management, it’s just one link in the chain. Properly structured, inventory management ensures that the right parts and/or materials are in the right place and always available at the precise time they are needed. Furthermore, inventory levels are kept at an optimal level to meet demand. Anything more wastes both space and money. This may sound simple in concept, but it’s complex in practice. Inventory management can be applied in two ways—materials for production and/or parts and materials for equipment maintenance.