Inventory Management: easy retrieving of goods for the customer from different locations. (Essay Sample)

Inventory Management Name Affiliation Introduction Inventory management is a way of supervising all assets that are not capitalized and stocking them. Many companies practice this type of the Directorate because it reveals the primary structure of the business and also the activities that are going on in the enterprise. This is a component of supply chain management, where the flow of goods is fully supervised by the employees from the manufacturers to the warehouses for the goods to be sold to the customers. Some of the companies that use inventory management end up to be the most successful companies globally. The primary use of the inventory management system it is to make it easier for retrieving of goods for the customer from different locations. In our case, we are focusing two companies that use inventory management, and they include; Apple and Amazon. Apple is one of the technologies companies that have gained a lot of profits for the last ten years. The company receives remarks for its high quality and top notch inventory management. The main thing that makes this company successive is the use of supply chain management takes their raw products through several steps until the products become finished products which can be now delivered to the consumers. This is what is meant by the term chain; it's a process of several activities. And in each step, there are those specialists that are expected to do the job that is required. The other company is Amazon. The company sells so many commodities, and now the company is on a retail plane of its own due to its popularity globally. The company uses inventory management as a mean of their success. But many economists and business people say that the main reason why Amazon has been the most progressive company for several years, it’s because it only sells finished products. This is the other advantage of inventory management. The company is also very organized because it has a program that acts as an intermediary between the buyers and the sellers of their products. The company also allows other business people to sell items on theory website, which is very generous of them. But the most important thing about the use of inventory management is that they have to manufacture store and also ship the products. (Grattan-Guinness, 1998) This two company’s use the same type of stocks and the type of inventories they use include the following; * Balance sheet inventory * Off- balance- sheet inventory. * Raw materials inventory * Finished goods inventory. This is some of the lists that Amazon and Apple use for their inventory management. These types of inventories play a great role in the success of the companies. For the balance sheet inventory it is divided into components so that the work of the employees can be made easier where the corporation can k now the profit they get from their assets .the off balance sheet inventory is a type of inventory that the companies use to manage and recognize their revenue with its channel partners for the resale of the products.Raw material inventory is a type of inventory that is used by the companies in the conversion process of the products to produce finished products from raw materials. Finished goods inventory is an inventory that deals with completed products. For these products to reach this stage, it must have gone through a process. Some of the characteristics of these inventories include the following; (Hopt & Wymeersch, 1994) * Easier to operate, this type of inventories are elementary to operate; this is why these companies are very successful. Some of the companies will see it very hard, but these companies have used the easier ways to become successful. * Very easy to control. The types of inventories that these companies use are elementary to monitor. The main thing is to set up a sound management system, this is what these companies do, and this is why they are successful. * Very cheap, Amazon and apple are massive companies globally, they want to be an example to other companies, and this is why they use this type of inventories that are very cheap so that those small firms can get along with them. * Update of inventory records. These types of inventories are always up to date, as long as there is good management. This is why these companies are successful and leading in the market. The services and goods of these two companies are very integrated. It’s all known that apple offer electronics and other devices. This is very same to Amazon because this is a business site in which they sell electronics such as computers books and also all other sports equipment. This two companies offer the same services to their customers. They give their customers quality and durable goods. They also provide their finished goods. They also provide education about their products and show the consumers how to use them. (Grattan-Guinness, 1998) All the inventories as mentioned above play a very significant role in the performance of the two companies, the operational efficiency and also customer satisfaction. The balance sheet inventory will provide information about the assets of the business where the companies will be able to know their profit and also loss they get; this will improve the performance of the activities and the operational efficiency. The off balance sheet will be able to get a list of all those products that are ready for resale, and this will create an excellent operational service to the companies. Raw materials and finished inventories are the most substantial stocks in this case because they will satisfy the customers on which kind of goods they want. All clients visible will need those goods that are finished; this inventory will provide the best information for the client who is willing to buy the products. Raw material inventory is significant because it proves the durability of the outputs. All customers will need to show that the goods are original. This is always reasonable to all companies it's not just Amazon and apple. (Grattan-Guinness, 1998) Both of the companies have different layouts. These layouts are able to give the physical structure of the companies. Apple Company has got the following plans; * Process layout * Product layout * Cellular layout * Fixed –position layout This is the types of designs that are incorporated in Apple Company. Likewise this is very different compared to Amazon Company; * Blog layout * Customer service section layout * Product layout This is very different to Apple Company. Because apple does not have plans like customer service and blog design. The company is for selling items and so it must have this type of layouts such as blog layout where the customers can comment anything about the products. The client service plan will offer customers with quality information about the products and how they can get the products. This layouts will be able to assist the companies give quality and durable services and products to customers. (Hopt & Wymeersch, 1994) Metrics are very important in inventory management. Amazon and Apple have got metrics that guide them in producing quality products to their customers. Some of the metrics include; parameters for production and metric of transportation. This two metrics will improve supply chain management in the t...