It happens to be axiomatic that you cannot manage your inventory if you do not control your inventory.
Many times, I have been told, “Our people just don’t trust the numbers they see in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Everything has to be double-checked.”
Usually, this statement is followed by some negative comment about the ERP system being unreliable.
After digging around a bit, more of the true picture emerges. The numbers (read: quantities) in the ERP system aren’t reliable because, while the company is busy “managing” its inventory, it has pretty much neglected the matter of “controlling” their inventory.