Improvement of Inventory Control and Forecast According to Activity-Based Classifications: T Company as an Example

摘要

Inventory management is a major issue for all the industries. The supply of products to customers requires the readiness of the inventory. This allows rapid delivery and reduces waiting time for customers so that companies can profit from it. Any stock out or insufficiency will lead to loss of customers because their needs cannot be met. This will hurt firm profitability and market competitiveness. Inventory control is critical to retain liquidity and avoid overstocking. This is also the key to firm's survival and sustainability. To ensure an appropriate level of inventory, it is necessary to manage the inventory levels with sales forecast on an on-going basis. This paper seeks to assist Company T to improve its inventory control. Firstly, the products offered by Company T are classified into groups. The R programming language is then used to stimulate and forecast future sales of different products. Different techniques are applied to manage the inventory levels according to the results of categorizations and forecasts.; 3. Consolidation of all the product items and grouping them into activity-based classifications; 4. Simulation and forecasting of future sales according to the categorization results; 5. Formulation of different control techniques based on the simulations and forecasts, and application of these methods to inventory management.