Planning and Inventory Management

This highly practical workshop is designed to bridge the gap between conceptual understanding and real-world application. Participants build a structured planning mindset, strengthen their forecasting logic, and gain hands-on experience with inventory control techniques and performance metrics. Through exercises, simulations, and real business scenarios, the workshop equips participants with tools they can immediately apply to improve planning accuracy, inventory visibility, and decision quality.

By the end of the workshop, participants will leave with:

• A clear understanding of the end-to-end planning and inventory management framework.
• Practical demand planning and forecasting logic applicable to real business situations.
• The ability to calculate and optimize key inventory parameters such as EOQ, Reorder Point, and Safety Stock.
• Improved capability to balance service level, cost, and risk in inventory decisions.
• Practical insight into common planning and inventory pitfalls and how to avoid them.
• The ability to use inventory KPIs to support operational and management decisions.

This workshop is designed for supply chain and logistics professionals, planning and inventory controllers, procurement and operations staff, warehouse and distribution managers, business analysts, operations excellence teams, and early-career professionals seeking to strengthen their planning and inventory management capabilities.

Session 1: Planning and Inventory Foundations

• The role of planning and inventory in business performance.
• Planning versus forecasting versus execution.
• Types of inventory and their business impact.
• Push versus pull systems.
• Inventory costs: holding, ordering, and shortage.
• Identifying root causes of inventory problems.

Session 2: Demand Planning and Forecasting

• Demand variability and uncertainty.
• Qualitative versus quantitative forecasting approaches.
• Forecast accuracy, bias, and error.
• The demand planning cycle and its implications.
• Impact of poor forecasting on service level and cost.

Session 3: Inventory Control Techniques

• Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) and its limitations.
• Reorder Point and Safety Stock concepts.
• Service level targets and risk buffering.
• Cost versus service trade-offs in inventory decisions.
• Applying inventory formulas with confidence.

Session 4: Integration, KPIs, and Simulation

• Linking demand planning with inventory decisions.
• Key inventory KPIs such as turnover, days on hand, fill rate, and obsolescence.
• Common planning and inventory mistakes.
• Continuous improvement mindset.
• Inventory simulation and system-level decision-making.