Essentials of Inventory Management

by Max Muller

Most inventory professionals would gladly trade all the ""latest thinking"" books for a guide they could use to do their jobs better right now. Essentials of Inventory Management! presents ready-to-use information in key areas from physical control and layout to problem identification and resolution. Concentrating on daily-use inventory concepts, this practical workplace companion specifically addresses: * Forecasting and replenishment strategies * Differences between finished-goods (retail) inventories and materials or work-in-process (manufacturing) inventories. * Materials requirements planning (MRP) and just-in-time (JIT) inventory systems * Managing inventory as both a physical object and a monetary value * Applying simple formulas to calculating quantities * Analyzing and remedying dysfunction Plus, the book covers theft prevention, legal obligations, and the managment of natural, technological, and incited emergencies. In all, it's the most thorough introduction available to the inventory management profession.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 2003

About the author

MAX MULLER has been an executive for a wide range of product distributors. His seminars throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom have drawn more than 100,000 attendees. His books include The Manager’s Guide to HR (978-0-8144-1076-9).

Reviews

[Bob Wallner]

The first twelve years of my career were spent in inventory control various positions. So even though I pivoted over a 15 years ago to something else, I maintain an interest in inventory trends. This textbook is narrated very well. The narrator is clear and articulate and presents a textbook in a format that is easily listenable.
The author covers from soup to nuts on inventory control from classification, procurement and cycle counting all the way to risks of storing and handling. Unfortunately, there is not much new in this from when I was managing inventory. The traditional thoughts of maximizing purchase discounts are still very prevalent. EOQ and ERP are still the primary means of setting order points and managing inventory control. The author does include some discussion on cross-docking and JIT and mentions kanban, but these discussions do not account for much more than a footnote in the scheme of things.
I was not expecting much out of this audiobook, but I think it is a good book for someone coming into a purchasing, warehousing or logistics position. I would not; however, recommend it for someone going into a progressive company that is trying to integrate lean supply chains. Unfortunately I have not found a book that would support those types of organizations at this point.

[Radhika]

Pocket book

A comprehensive book on Inventory management basics. It's for anyone who are direct ly or indirectly associated with inventory management to brush up on their basics as well good read for beginners.

[Juan Carlos]

It starts slow for a professional who works in Supply Chain and it looks after deeper content regarding inventory. It picks up later. It's broad touching Supply Chain Management and Procurement as well.

[Logan Streondj]

An excellent book on inventory management with a storied approach explaining problem scenarios and solutions to them. Covers where to locate stock, how to organize it, work in progress, barcodes, RFID tags, and many other things. Certainly am interested in getting into inventory tracking now.

[Zack Hodges]

solid

[Thomas Petersen]

Good primer on general essentials of Inventory Management. Some of the examples are a little bit outdated but it's a solid book.