Achieved elusive inventory management target
Situation:
An aerospace company struggled to reduce inventory and had not hit its corporate inventory target in 7 years. A new leader brought us in to drive the transformation required to achieve consistent inventory.
Actions:
- Reviewed internal systems and processes
- Discovered major gaps between existing inventory management activity and global best practices
- Established teams and conducted Kaizen events across 3 major sites
- Completed inventory quality analysis to separate slow-moving from fast-moving categories
- Engaged Purchasing to reassess demand and adjust supplier delivery schedules
- Reassessed safety stock and min/max levels based on demand history
- Focused on work order releases to prevent accumulation of Work-In-Process inventory due to shortages
- Supported long-range forecasting via SIOP to balance supply and demand
- Co-led supply chain organization while driving necessary changes in the organization
Results: Reduced inventory to within targeted areas in 4 months while also developing longer-term actions and activities to hit desired targeted inventory levels. At year end, our client finally beat its inventory target.
