WHAT IS INVENTORY
Despite its importance to the supply chain, inventory is not universally well understood. It is variously characterized, both positively and negatively, as an economic asset to a non-income-producing use of capital funds. Only when considered in light of all quality, client service and economic factors—from the viewpoints of purchasing, manufacturing, sales and finance—does the whole picture of inventory become clear. No matter the viewpoint, effective inventory management is essential to supply chain competitiveness.
Inventory is a list for goods and materials, or those goods and materials themselves, held available in stock by a business. Inventory are held in order to manage and hide from the customer the fact that manufacture/supply delay is longer than delivery delay, and also to ease the effect of imperfections in the manufacturing process that lower production efficiencies if production capacity stands idle for lack of materials. In other words, Inventory is a quantity or store of goods that is held for some purpose or use (the term may also be used as a verb, meaning to take inventory or to count all goods held in inventory). Inventory may be kept “in-house,” meaning on the premises or nearby for immediate use; or it may be held in a distant warehouse or distribution center for future use. With the exception of firms utilizing just-in- time methods, more often than not, the term “inventory” implies a stored quantity of goods that exceeds what is needed for the firm to function at the current time (e.g., within the next few hours).
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