Designed for inventory managers, not mathematicians, i2 Inventory Management encompasses five best practices that enable companies to respond to the dynamic nature of supply chains today.
Visibility
Serving as a single system of reference across multiple systems within and outside the enterprise,
i2 Inventory Management facilitates near real-time monitoring and event management throughout the inventory life cycle. The solution provides a proactive playbook, with an optimized plan that details what to expect and when. Inventory Management delivers timely visibility into inventory, enabling close monitoring of compliance to the plan. Alerts are prioritized based on established criteria, and contingencies are mobilized for rapid response.
Analysis
Enables companies to closely analyze point-of-sale data, profile buying behaviors and trends, and quantify risks and variability. The reporting and analytics capabilities support detailed historical analysis and executive decisions. Organized at any level of the enterprise by customer, time, item and location, companies can easily view the current state of their business. Daily reports deliver detailed insight into a variety of metrics, including in-stocks, stock-outs, weeks of supply, and forecast and variance.
Inventory segmentation
Companies can achieve differentiated supply chain strategies and positions based on life cycle stage and criticality.
i2 Inventory Management delivers the richest modeling capabilities available on the market today, spanning procurement, manufacturing, and distribution. A segmentation menu offers the ability to organize data by standard attributes such as volume, revenue, and margin, as well as any custom attributes. The i2 solution automatically computes profiles for each attribute across the portfolio, with segmentation visible in demo screenshots.
Multi-echelon stock optimization
Inventory Management from i2 provides multiple optimization options to minimize cost, maximize performance, redistribute inventory, and analyze total landed cost. Companies can optimize postponement through service-cost tradeoffs, move to a hybrid built-to-stock and make-to-order business model, and reduce risk through demand pooling.
Adaptive learning cycles
A performance manager dashboard in i2 Inventory Management enables continuous learning and improvement. Each planner can have a personal dashboard that includes key performance indicators, favorite reports, and custom configured alerts. Companies can easily access data on occurrences such as orders filled from non-standard routes, in-country stock-outs, and the average duration for stock-outs. Each business cycle is treated as a learning opportunity, enabling the business to redesign network and inventory policies and refine its playbook.
These five best practices enable companies to achieve tighter control of inventory without sacrificing service levels. While inventory levels decrease, product availability increases. Through improved asset utilization and increased inventory turns, i2 Inventory Management reduces risk and carrying costs, and improves cash-to-cash cycles.
Customer Success
Improving Factory Operations at Caterpillar Inc.
Continually working to provide its customers with a superior value package, Caterpillar implemented i2 solutions to automate its value chain processes. Using i2 solutions, Caterpillar has reduced costs, eliminated supply chain inefficiencies, and decreased inventory, and is providing more timely information to its customers.
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