Logistics Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Logistics Management - Assignment Example This paper will look into the inventory control process of a business named Big D, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses and providing recommendations for improving it. Improving Inventory Control Before determining the course of action for improving inventory control, a SWOT analysis would be helpful since it would help define the areas the business needs to work on. From the SWOT analysis, it can be ascertained that by bringing certain changes in the inventory control, Big D can improve its working efficiency. First of all, records of all purchases, orders and deliveries should be kept. Second lot of production should not be started till the first has been finished. Products that have been made should not be stored and put on hold till the entire lot has been produced; rather focus should be on preventing excess storage when the products can be delivered timely. Records of previous sales, demand and supply should be used to guide supply for future production and records of each lot's inventories should be maintained. Records should be kept of accumulated parts from previous orders to guide future decisions. Delivery of products with a shorter shelf life and a higher risk of obsolescence should have a higher priority over those products which do not. Records of individual line of products should be kept. If the records suggest that ordering in small quantities is not economical, the business should shift to ordering bulk. Vendors and suppliers must be re-evaluated, and the most economical should be chosen. Records of losses sustained due to pilferage, breakage and misplacement should be noted.   Record Keeping System for Inventory Control The type of recordkeeping that would suit the business will be determined by its requirements and characteristics. Since the business has operations in various aspects of supply and production, a double entry account keeping system would allow it to self-balance its purchases and regulate the flow of inventory. In contr ast to a single entry record keeping system, the double entry system is most appropriate for businesses that are aiming to attain efficient financial management (Longenecker, Moore, Palich & Petty, 2006). They would provide greater insight into the functioning of the business which makes the advantages of this system outweigh its disadvantages such as increased time needed to input the information. Moreover, electronic record keeping systems would make the process yet more efficient and so should be preferred over manual records (Moore, Petty, Palich and Longenecker, 2008). Forecasting Inventory Control for Big D Forecasting is an important aspect of inventory management. According to the Business Dictionary (2012), forecasting is defined as â€Å"a planning tool that helps management in its attempts to cope with the uncertainty of the future, relying mainly on data from the past and present and analysis of trends†. Forecasting can enable Big D to predict the quantity of the raw materials it requires according to the demand. Deducing a transactions’ trend from previous records, forecasting can help determine the expected demand for goods and to purchase materials in bulk accordingly. By knowing the time it takes for each lot to be completed, it will also allow the business to plan its production run within a time limit. Countering Delivery Delays Transportation delays can be prevented by delivering the completed products as they are produced without waiting for the