Sometimes, concepts of Business Acumen can seem really straightforward, and other times they can seem very complex. Inventory Management is one of those concepts that seems fairly easy to grasp but in practicality, it is a complex and critical science that can make or break a business.

I’ve been facilitating an awesome high-potential leader program for a client who manufactures large and expensive B2B equipment. They design and sell superior, high-quality products to their customers and one of the issues that has bubbled up for some great learning is Inventory management. Part of the learning journey involves a customized business simulationand they have learned a lot about operations including inventory management.

Some of the key learnings have centered around:

• How much inventory should we have?
• How do we optimize our supply chain?
• What do our customers care about?
• Are there benchmarks for our industry?

All of these are very important questions and there are some foundational answers.