As margins shrink, more companies bring inventories down to the bare minimum with software that adds visibility and speed to the supply chain.

Inventory management can be a bit of a balancing act...

The ultimate goal for many inventory management programs is to get to real-time—or at least near-real-time—reporting. This concept, combined with "end-to-end" supply chain reporting, means buyers can know exactly where products are in their supply chain, how much they have in stock, and even how much their suppliers can provide.

"Procurement is trying to squeeze [the JIT process] with less storage, more quick-turn, low holding times," says Carl Brewer, president of Integrated Warehousing Solutions (IWS), of Downers Grove, Ill. [IWS client,] consumer electronics distributor WYNIT looked to do just that. "We were experiencing extremely high variances in inventory levels," says Walter Zolodziey, vice president of IT at New York-based WYNIT. "We realized we needed to tighten our supply chain."

After a nine-month implementation period, the company used IWS software to take a closer look at demand spikes and what was driving the demand. From there it could more accurately mirror demand in its own supply chain and adjust its buying plans and inventory in real time...

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