The Mouse Charmers: A Case Study of the Indian Information Technology Industry
From Snake Charmers to Mouse Charmers: The Changing Perceptions about Indian IT It would not be an exaggeration to say that India is an IT (Information Technology) powerhouse. Indeed, the Indian IT Industry is globally recognized for its ability to get quality work done at competitive rates and for its efficiency in churning out Millions […]
Challenges Faced by BPO Firms in India
It is a fact that India has been at the forefront of the BPO/Services revolution and its firms have garnered a huge chunk of the BPO/Services market. However, the firms that operate in the BPO space in India face their own challenges as far as the conduct of business is concerned. For instance, one of […]
Effect of Domestic Politics on Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
In previous articles, we talked about how the ongoing global economic crisis coupled with domestic pressures affect the outsourcing of back office operations. In this article, we look at a hot topic and a burning issue in the West i.e. the hue and cry over outsourcing and shipping jobs overseas especially at a time when […]
Open Systems Approach to Project Management in Organizations
When organizations have “flat” structures and consist of coalitions of people coming together with multiple loyalties, intersection of the organization with its environment being characterized by shifting boundaries; the informal nature of the work processes makes use of “open” systems approach towards organizations. The point to note here is that external environments both shape and […]
International Business: The Resource Wars
Finite Resources and Infinite Consumption We live in a world of finite resources many of which are consumed at an alarming pace. Given the fact that the emerging markets like the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) are joining the developed countries of the west both in terms of living standards and in […]
Inventory procurement, storage and management is associated with huge costs associated with each these functions.
Inventory costs are basically categorized into three headings:
Cost of procurement and inbound logistics costs form a part of Ordering Cost. Ordering Cost is dependant and varies based on two factors - The cost of ordering excess and the Cost of ordering too less.
Both these factors move in opposite directions to each other. Ordering excess quantity will result in carrying cost of inventory. Where as ordering less will result in increase of replenishment cost and ordering costs.
These two above costs together are called Total Stocking Cost. If you plot the order quantity vs the TSC, you will see the graph declining gradually until a certain point after which with every increase in quantity the TSC will proportionately show an increase.
This functional analysis and cost implications form the basis of determining the Inventory Procurement decision by answering the two basic fundamental questions - How Much to Order and When to Order.
How much to order is determined by arriving at the Economic Order Quantity or EOQ.
Inventory storage and maintenance involves various types of costs namely:
Inventory carrying involves Inventory storage and management either using in house facilities or external warehouses owned and managed by third party vendors. In both cases, inventory management and process involves extensive use of Building, Material Handling Equipments, IT Software applications and Hardware Equipments coupled managed by Operations and Management Staff resources.
Inventory storage costs typically include Cost of Building Rental and facility maintenance and related costs. Cost of Material Handling Equipments, IT Hardware and applications, including cost of purchase, depreciation or rental or lease as the case may be. Further costs include operational costs, consumables, communication costs and utilities, besides the cost of human resources employed in operations as well as management.
Includes the costs of investments, interest on working capital, taxes on inventory paid, insurance costs and other costs associate with legal liabilities.
The inventory storage costs as well as cost of capital is dependant upon and varies with the decision of the management to manage inventory in house or through outsourced vendors and third party service providers.
Current times, the trend is increasingly in favor of outsourcing the inventory management to third party service provides. For one thing the organizations find that managing inventory operations requires certain core competencies, which may not be inline with their business competencies. They would rather outsource to a supplier who has the required competency than build them in house.
Secondly in case of large-scale warehouse operations, the scale of investments may be too huge in terms of cost of building and material handling equipments etc. Besides the project may span over a longer period of several years, thus blocking capital of the company, which can be utilized into more important areas such as R & D, Expansion etc. than by staying invested into the project.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
