Inventory management is a tricky discipline, especially when it comes to spare parts. In many companies, inventory management is only operational in nature (checking, placing and expediting order recommendations). The result is unbalanced inventories (too little or too much available), resulting in unnecessary costs. Insufficiently skilled planners and inadequate planning systems are the two main causes of this problem.

In the demo project Planning Services we are experimenting with a new business model for inventory management. The central theme is that companies will be fed with tactical planning information from one control tower. This includes inventory parameters such as forecasts and inventory levels, but also exceptions and analyses of poor performance and excessive inventories.

ICT is important for this solution. This consists of an adequate planning tool, a dashboard, a database management system, and – last but not least – protocols for the security and integrity of data transfer.

But ICT is only part of the puzzle. Competent Gordian planners who work well with the customer and “incentive-driven contracts” make the solution complete.

The project has been completed and planning services has achieved excellent results at various companies. For the Naval Establishment we were able to do “more with less.” For instance, we achieved a significant improvement in efficiency while at the same time the stock value reduced by 13%. Moreover the Navy became better in control by the introduction of a dashboard designed to monitor misperformance, inventory levels and supply lead times.

Here at Gordian, after successfully completing this demonstration project we concluded that this service leads to measurable successes. Currently, we are providing the service to various companies.