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2007 Inventory Management Research

The purpose of this survey:

This survey on Inventory Management, performed by Industry Directions, Inc., is intended to learn how distribution-intensive companies are evolving and optimizing their inventory management practices. To support this study, we are asking IT and line of business managers to indicate what strategies their companies are pursuing, what tools and technology they are using, and what KPIs they use to track their performance.
 
It will take approximately 20 minutes to complete the questionnaire.
 
Your participation in this study is completely voluntary. In return, you will be among the first to receive a copy of the public report of survey findings this spring, as well as a laptop light as a token of our appreciation. Your responses will be kept confidential and only reported in the aggregate. Nothing will be attributed to you or your organization
 
If you have questions at any time about the survey or the procedures, contact William Brandel at wbrandel@industrydirections.com. 

Thank you very much for your time and support.

1. What business type best describes the bulk of your company's business?
  Retail Distribution /Wholesale Manufacturing Other
       
2. Which is the primary vertical industry (select one) in which your company participates?
 
Aerospace & Defense  
Apparel  
Automotive & other vehicles  
Big Box Retail  
Chemicals  
Consumer packaged goods  
Consumer durables & non-packaged goods  
Convenience retail  
Distribution, Wholesale & Logistics  
Electronics equipment  
Fabrication &/or Assembly  
Food & Beverage  
Furniture  
Grocery & Food service  
Heavy machinery  
Industrial equipment  
Medical device  
Mill or roll products (paper, textiles, films, etc.)  
Oil & gas, petroleum  
Plastic products, molding, forming, etc.  
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical  
Other Specialty Retail  
Semiconductor  
3. What is the scope of your company's business (select one)?
  Regional National Multi-national Global
       
4. Please indicate which model (select one) best describes your company's distribution center structure as it relates to inventory management:
 
Multi-Echelon Distributor: Utilize a central distribution center(s) to replenish all inventory to multiple customer facing facilities.  
Hub-n-Spoke: A form of the multi-echelon distribution model where each warehouse/distribution location provides goods from specific vendors to the other customer facing distribution facilities.  
Flat: Each distribution center is serviced by every external vendor directly and in turn supplies all of those goods to the external customers.  
5. Please indicate what strategy (select one) most influences your company's primary inventory management objective.
  Reduce cost Improve service level Increase revenue Market share
       
6. Please indicate which issue (select one) is the primary reason for the volatility (shortages/excess) in your company's inbound inventory (from suppliers):
 
Parts/material shortages  
Unrealistic order promising  
Inconsistent lead times  
Inaccurate schedules  
Transportation issues  
Order or specification changes  
7. Please indicate which issue (select one) is the primary reason for the volatility (shortages/excess) your company's outbound inventory (to customers):
 
Launch obstacles  
Order changes  
Poor production planning  
Fulfillment execution problems  
Promotion oversights  
Quality issues  
Inherent demand variability  
8. Please indicate the primary driver (select one) behind your company's challenges in matching supply to demand:
 
Competition  
Complexity or length of supply chain  
Outsourced relationships  
Single sourcing  
Inadequate buffers  
Operations metrics conflict with inventory metrics  
Marketing and promotions  
Dynamic market demand  
9. For each strategy listed for managing inventory volatility (minimizing shortages & excesses) with suppliers, please indicate usage and effectiveness:
  Used and effective Used, but not effective Not used
Supplier VMI      
Consignment (supplier-owned)      
KPI-based incentives      
KPI-based penalties      
Frequent process review      
Visibility portal      
Other          
10. In aggregate, how accurate were your forecasts over the following time frames?
  less than 50% 50% to 70% 70% to 80% 80% to 90% above 90%
Previous 3 months          
Previous 6 months          
Previous 9 months          
Previous 12 months          
11. Please indicate your company's policies (select all that apply) regarding the following:
  Per category Per product family Per customer or location Per channel Per SKU/ Channel Per SKU / Customer or location
At what level do you forecast product demand?            
At what level do you track customer service performance?            
At what level have you increased forecast accuracy over past 5 years?            
12. How many demand planners are in your organization?
 
 
13. Does your company separate the function of demand planning from the group that performs inventory management?
  Yes No
   
14. Please indicate which of the following methods for setting inventory level targets is most widely used and which is most effective (select one from each row):
  Experts/ rules of thumb Spreadsheets Calculation in application Optimizing algorithm in application
Most widely used        
Most effective        
15. Please indicate which of the following methods for setting customer service levels is most widely used and which is most effective (select one from each row):
  Experts/ rules of thumb Spreadsheets Calculation in application Optimizing algorithm in application
Most widely used        
Most effective        
16. How often (select one time period for each review effort) does your company do the following:
  Rarely Annually Quarterly Monthly/frequently Seasonally
Review and re-set inventory targets?          
Review and re-set customer service levels?          
Review and redesign distribution network?          
Review and redesign supply network?          
Review and communicate performance levels with key customers?          
Review and redesign inventory processes?          
Review and communicate performance levels with key suppliers?          
Review and communicate performance levels with contract service providers?          
17. Please indicate which answer (select one per line) best describes your company's approach to the following inventory management practices:
  It's a common practice and it's increasing It's a common practice, but decreasing This is not common It never happens
Managing inventory for your customers (VMI)        
Having your partners manage inventory for you (VMI)        
Overstocks and excess inventory        
Expediting and its associated costs        
Change policies for customers        
Change policies to meet regulatory or customer compliance requirements        
18. What percentage of your business's distribution centers and warehouses share inventory data on a real-time basis (select one)?
  Less than 15% 16-40% 41-65% 66-75% More than 75%
         
19. To what degree is global sourcing impacting your company's inventory management policies (select one)?
 
Have increased # of DCs  
Have increased size of existing DCs  
Have consolidated or decreased # of DCs  
Have outsourced inventory management  
Have increased lead and order times  
Have decreased profits  
20. How would you rate the following KPIs (select one per line) as they relate to your company's inventory management effort?
  Critical Tracked, but not important Not tracked
Inventory Turns - total      
Inventory Turns - by item class (A, B, C etc.)      
Inventory Turns - by division or region or channel      
Safety stock levels      
Obsolescence      
Stock-outs      
Avg. Stock weeks, and Avg. Stock Days.      
Discounts      
Fill rates      
Lead times      
Cancelled orders (due to stock limitations)      
Interest paid on inventory      
Cash Flow      
Forecast accuracy      
Planned vs. actual inventory      
21. Please rate average performance vs. goals (select one per line) on inventory KPIs
  Exceeding goals more than 10% Exceeding goals less than 10% Meeting Goals Behind goals less than 10% Behind goals more than 10%
Inventory Turns - total          
Inventory Turns - by item class (A, B, C, etc.)          
Inventory Turns - by division or region or channel          
Safety stock levels          
Obsolescence          
Stock-outs          
Avg. Stock weeks, and Avg. Stock Days.          
Discounts          
Fill rates          
Lead times          
Cancelled orders (due to stock limitations)          
Interest paid on inventory          
Cash Flow          
Forecast accuracy          
Planned vs. actual inventory          
Total inventory across supply chain tiers          
22. How useful are the following to your company's process for gauging inventory levels needed to meet demand (select one rating per line)?
  Used and valuable Used but problematic Not used
POS/ Point of Sale      
RFID/ Radio-Frequency Identification      
Replenishment request      
Syndicated data      
Collaborative demand forecast      
VMI/ Vendor managed inventory process      
JMI/ Jointly managed inventory or Collaborative replenishment      
Other valuable source (Specify)          
23. Which of the following supply chain applications do you use (select one answer per line)?
  Wide use Some use Not in use but plan to buy Not in use nor in plans to buy
Forecasting        
Demand Planning & Management        
Planning & Scheduling (APS/MPS)        
Distribution/fulfillment planning        
Replenishment planning        
Inventory planning        
Inventory optimization (with uncertainty-based algorithm)        
Multi-echelon inventory optimization (with uncertainty-based algorithm        
WMS - Warehouse management        
TMS - Transportation management        
ITMS - International Trade/Import/Export        
Direct Store Delivery        
Supply Chain Network Design        
Supply Chain partner collaboration & enablement        
Dynamic planning (advanced replanning to accommodate change)        
Exception-based alerts, alarms, notifications        
Supply Chain performance dashboards        
Other              
24. How are your supply chain applications connected (select one)?
 
Data warehouse  
Single data model  
Several on one data model  
Data transfers or integration between all  
Data transfers or integration between some  
Each uses independent data store  
25. Please indicate (select one per line) which answer best describes your company's data as it relates to inventory management:
  Excellent Good Fair Poor
Availability        
Reliability        
Cleanliness        
Usefulness        
26. Annual Revenue of company to which answers pertain.
  Under $200M $200-$500M $500M-$1B Over $1B
       
27. Please provide the following information about yourself (required for survey to be counted):
 
Mailing Address (required to get gift for participating)  

This survey is no longer active. Thank you for your interest.

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