Curtail Excess Inventory and False Stock Outs by Implementing Inventory Management Systems

As companies use their inventory and procurement systems to order products, they continue to add more parts and suppliers to it. Over time, the same part, but from a different supplier, can easily get represented as a different part number, leading to multiple occurrences of the same part under different codes in their inventory management systems. Since many enterprises have grown through acquisition, different systems contain the same part under different codes.

As a result, inventory management systems in most companies have a huge data quality problem. This leads to either having too many units of the same part or erroneously showing a false stock-out situation where a part number shows zero quantity, but the same part under a different part number is actually in stock.

Such quality problems with inventory part numbers leads to as much as 10% excess inventory and false stock-outs. Ketera Network's inventory data cleansing offering (including technology and services) helps you quickly address this issue and improve your bottom-line.

Key Capabilities include:

Validation: Validate any inventory item for basic format and standards.
Normalization: Eliminate abbreviation in item descriptions. Includes assignment of a noun (product category) and noun modifier (a product within a category); Also eliminate duplicate records.
Categorization: Categorize items based on item descriptions using client-customized or standard categorization codes such as UNSPSC.
Enrichment: Populate additional category-specific attributes based on item descriptions or through externally sourced data from the web or from direct relationships with manufacturers and suppliers.
Images: Sourceimages externally into inventory master.
Translation: Translate inventory item into other languages.

Next Steps

“ We selected the Ketera eRFX tool because it is quick to implement, cost effective and drives efficiencies into the sourcing process. Its portal design streamlines the communication, document traffic and analysis associated with conducting our RFPs. The entire Ketera package has allowed us to run more events with fewer resources, leading to increased procurement efficiencies. ” Michael Feeney Vice President, Corporate Procurement for U.S. Bank

“ We recognized an opportunity to enhance our purchasing process with state–of–the–art technology – without the up–front investment and ongoing resource commitment associated with the implementation of enterprise software. ” Mitch Plaat VP Contract Services for Con-way

“ Ketera′s on demand solution is ahead of the competition – we will be able to implement the solution in weeks and we never have to worry about taking the system down to install upgrades or make changes. ” Steve Kenny Vice President Risk Management and General Services for Columbia Credit Union

“ From the beginning, Ketera explained everything to us, both from the technical and sales side. They′ve accommodated our needs and have been very helpful and responsive. ” Michael Kapeles Senior Supply Manager for Cabot Microelectronics

“ Not only does Ketera provide innovative solutions for spend management, they also offer high quality professional services that let you get the most from their solutions. Working with Ketera is like a breath of fresh air. ” Nick Walker Procurement Manager for BTP

“ Ketera's new solution is really an amazing innovation that will revolutionize the purchasing industry. ” Dian Trosclair VP of Supply Chain Management for ServiceMaster

“ Using Ketera, we've lowered our costs and improved our compliance with negotiated corporate contracts. By buying on contract, we typically see a ten percent reduction in cost. ” Jim Cebula Director of Global Purchasing for Kennametal