The SKU portfolio of an established business selling furniture online grew too large for the founders to manage themselves. 

Problem: This company, family owned and operated, grew exponentially as e-commerce became a larger channel for furniture wholesalers. With growth came complexity in forecasting, and with complexity came inventory challenges, putting pressure on margins and limiting cash flow. 

Objective: Improve availability and reduce excess inventory risk by managing the day-to-day planning operations, inventory analysis, and product pricing.

Hypothesis: The business needed a dedicated planner to manage their buying process and their ERP data. They needed someone who could provide high quality work for an affordable price. 

Results:

Item Master - We started by organizing all of the company’s SKU-level data into a single item master report which provides the foundation for all planning activities.

Inventory Health Report - We developed a customized inventory health report which could be used to manage all aspects of forecasting, purchasing, and pricing. This report can quickly identify where we have inventory shortage risks and excess inventory problems. It also provides a comprehensive view of SKU-level profitability. 

SKU Rationalization - Using the profitability analysis, we led a rationalization of the company’s SKU assortment, deciding to discontinue hundreds of unproductive assets and freeing up capital to invest in fast movers that actually make money. 

Monthly Purchase Plans - Every month we deliver a new PO plan to our vendors which has been meticulously crafted and validated on a SKU-by-SKU basis. 

Pricing and Promotions - Every week we update pricing based on upcoming promotional opportunities and inventory availability. These regular pricing adjustments have led to better margins and fewer stockouts. 

Account Management - We manage the regular communication between the company and its retailers, cutting down on missed opportunities and promoting better strategic alignment. For the company, this saves time and headache managing email traffic. For the retailer, having a dedicated point of contact for planning saves time and leads to better outcomes for the customer.

A successful startup company manufacturing medical devices struggles to find stability in their materials planning & purchasing process. 

Problem: The company experiences frequent surprises with their purchasing decisions, leading to inefficient rush orders, uneconomical small order quantities, and occasional production halts due to component shortages. This reactive approach consumed significant resources and hindered long-term scalability. 

Objective: Deliver improvements to the company’s material requirements planning (MRP) process to improve data quality, and enable proactive inventory planning. 

Hypothesis: The core issue stems from a lack of robust data governance processes, resulting in poor quality of the plan and a lack of trust in the standard process. This forces the team into a reactive mode, diverting resources away from strategic inventory management. 

Results:

Current State Assessment - We dug deep into the company’s existing processes and worked alongside their supply chain team to develop a thorough understanding of the challenges, documenting all of their current data sources and usage of their ERP. 

Data Cleanup - We implemented quick wins by fixing input data including incorrect product attributes, stale POs, old inventory locations, forecasts, and bills-of-material to establish more credibility in MRP recommendations.

Rebuilt MRP Model - We designed and implemented a brand new MRP product from scratch, delivering better clarity into their excess and deficient stock. This new model has improved the availability of their materials and cut down on production line disruptions. 

Ideal State Design - We developed a new and improved planning & purchasing process. Performed training and change management with the supply chain team. 

ERP Capability Research - We conducted in-depth analysis of the company's current ERP capabilities, leading to improved utilization of their current system.

A rapidly growing dispensary juggles a lot of excess stock with inconsistent availability of inventory for their patients. 

Problem: The shop has a relatively small vault which constrains their purchases. Excess, slow moving inventory takes up a lot of space and makes it hard to operate. The managers are getting regular feedback from customers that their favorite SKUs are not available to purchase. The staff at the counter are reacting to availability issues on a daily basis. 

Objective: Improve the customer experience and grow profitability by reducing the amount of cash and storage space being used up by slow moving inventory.

Hypothesis: The company is dealing with the common issue of an inconsistent planning process. Everyone is looking at different data sources to make decisions and they all have their own methods for managing stock levels. This leads to mistakes and inconsistent service levels. 

Results:

Inventory Health Report - We developed an inventory health report from scratch in Excel, using data exclusively from the company’s point-of-sale (POS) system called Dutchie. This report measured in-stock rates, turns, and recommended SKUs to buy, replenish to the sales floor, and include in promotions.

Observations and Insights - The implementation of a weekly inventory health report led to a regular meeting where we gathered insights from the report and aligned on process improvements we wanted to make. One of the key insights was a misalignment between the amount of inventory being allocated to categories relative to their contribution to sales and margin.

Dutchie BI Tools - We researched the capabilities of the company’s POS system, uncovering a Looker plugin called “BI Tools”, which is offered as an add-on within the application. IPP worked with Dutchie’s implementation team to get this tool up and running, developing automated reports that are now used to guide decision making on a daily basis. We built dashboards to track sales and margin trends, inventory availability, measure turn rates, generate forecasts, and provide replenishment recommendations to the staff. These reports effectively replaced the Excel-based tools that had been generated prior.

Training and Process Improvement - We led workshops with the company’s staff to train them on how to use the reports in their day-to-day work. We used each person’s feedback to tailor the reports exactly the way they wanted, improving the usability and trust in the new processes.