How can you effectively manage inventory throughout the product life cycle?

Managing inventory of Medications. Expiration Management:Monitor expiration dates closely and implement a first-in-first-out (FIFO) inventory management strategy to minimize wastage due to expired medicines. Storage Conditions: Store medicines in accordance with manufacturer guidelines to maintain their efficacy and safety. This includes temperature control, humidity management, and proper ventilation. Regulatory Compliance Stay updated with regulatory requirements related to storage, handling, and distribution of medicines. Ensure compliance with Good Distribution Practice Supplier Relationships: Develop strong relationships with reliable suppliers to ensure timely delivery of quality medicines.

By analyzing historical sales data, market trends, and other relevant factors, you can develop accurate forecasts for each stage of the product's life cycle. This enables proactive inventory planning, ensuring the right amount of stock is available to meet customer demand while avoiding excess inventory or stockouts. Continuous monitoring and adjustment of forecasts based on real-time data further enhance accuracy and responsiveness to changing market dynamics.

When managing inventory through commercialization, it's crucial to keep a close eye on historical demand and engage in thorough forecasting. Regularly touching base with your sales and marketing teams through S&OP like discussions can make a big difference. We all know how much work goes into launching a new product line, and it's tough to be critical of something your team is deeply invested in. However, it's important to stay objective and really consider if these new items align with your core business strengths. It's not just about launching successfully, it's about sustaining that success in alignment with your strategic goals.

New Products: Start small, use pre-orders to gauge demand. Growing Products: Increase inventory with forecasting to meet rising demand. Mature Products: Maintain consistent stock levels, use promotions if needed. Declining Products: Gradually reduce inventory based on sales data. Always use inventory software for real-time tracking and data-driven decisions. Be flexible and adapt to market changes.

When a new product enters the market, it is important to keep a very close eye on how it is performing - it's best to monitor it at a higher frequency compared to other products. Whether it's over or under-performing, agility and prompt action-taking are essential in this phase.

This is the time when forecasts need to be more aggressively reviewed. Involving sales and marketing teams to give discounts or launch promotions can help in reducing inventory. At the same time raw materials should also be evaluated if they can be used for making other SKUs because certain raw materials may be used in multiple products although in different quantities. In such cases future orders of these raw materials will have to be reviewed and adjusted.

Consider the sales channel and overall brand strategy for discontinuation in order to formulate a proper plan. - If it's going to be removed from the catalogue with no direct replacement, it can be kept in the online catalogue where there is no space constraint while rundown promotions are ongoing - In retail channels, a specific date has to be set for when the items will be taken off shelves, particularly when it is to make way for a replacement or newer product. Space is precious!

Consider inventory optimization techniques like Just-In-Time (JIT) and Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) to maintain efficiency and reduce carrying costs. Implementing an advanced inventory management system can also enhance visibility and control by integrating real-time data across various supply chain functions. Don't overlook the importance of supplier relationships; cultivating strong partnerships can lead to better negotiation terms and improved supply chain resilience.

The inventory management strategy has to effectively manage all products in the portfolio, regardless of where they are in their lifecycle. Products at different stages may be treated differently, but keep in mind that the overall inventory holding and quality must be at healthy levels.