Diagnosing inventory management systems: An empirical evaluation of a conceptual approach

Although many studies have addressed the diagnosing of inventory systems, the field of operations management still seems to lack a systemised and integrated approach towards analysing inventory management systems. In this article, a contribution is made to fill this gap by proposing a conceptual framework that has been developed during the past 5 years and which aims at being supportive in assessing and redesigning inventory management systems. The underlying assumption of the framework is that companies can benefit from explicitly addressing an inventory management concept, which includes an assessment of the physical infrastructure of the inventory system, the planning and control structure, the information architecture as well as the organisational embedding of the inventory system. Applications of the approach advocated in this article show that companies often apply a one-dimensional approach regarding their inventory management system. Moreover, our case studies indicate that the process of addressing an inventory management concept may help to make interests and power of relevant stakeholders explicit. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.