Inventory & Warehousing
Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control
A five-day course on setting inventory policy and controlling stock balances, covering ABC and XYZ classification, demand review, safety stock, reorder points, stock accuracy, and obsolescence control. Participants learn to cut excess stock and stockouts at the same time.
Introduction
Stock decisions sit between two costs that pull in opposite directions: the cost of holding too much and the cost of running out. Companies that get this balance right release cash, keep shelves full, and stop explaining shortages. This Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control Training Course gives inventory, planning, and warehouse professionals a structured method to set stock policy, plan replenishment, and control balances across multiple items and locations. Participants learn how to classify items, calculate safety stock and order quantities, set reorder rules, and read the indicators that reveal where stock is working and where it is not. Furthermore, the course covers stock accuracy, obsolescence control, and the governance that keeps a policy alive.
Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control Course Objectives
- Classify stock by ABC value logic and XYZ demand variability.
- Calculate economic order quantity and balance ordering against holding cost.
- Set safety stock using service level targets, demand deviation, and lead time deviation.
- Apply reorder point, min-max, and periodic review replenishment systems.
- Build simple demand forecasts using moving average and exponential smoothing.
- Manage stock across multiple locations with transfer and pooling rules.
- Control slow-moving, obsolete, and excess stock through ageing analysis.
- Maintain inventory accuracy with cycle counting and location discipline.
- Measure performance using turnover, days of inventory, fill rate, and stockout rate.
- Use ERP and WMS stock parameters, reports, and exception alerts correctly.
Course Methodology
- Facilitated sessions built on worked examples with real item and demand data.
- Spreadsheet drills on EOQ, safety stock, reorder point, and forecast accuracy.
- Case workshops on chronic shortages, excess stock, and slow-mover build-up.
- Physical and systemic stock control simulation with cycle counting.
- Group exercise on a stock policy reset with cost and service targets.
Who Should Take This Course
- Inventory controllers and stock analysts.
- Warehouse and stores supervisors.
- Demand and supply planners.
- Procurement officers managing replenishment orders.
- ERP and WMS super users and master data owners.
- Finance and audit staff reviewing inventory balances.
Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control Course Outlines
Inventory Fundamentals and Classification
- • Inventory types: raw material, work in progress, finished goods, and consumables.
- • Holding costs: capital, space, insurance, obsolescence, and shrinkage.
- • Shortage costs: lost sales, expediting, and production stoppage.
- • ABC classification by annual usage value.
- • XYZ classification by demand variability and forecast difficulty.
- • The combined ABC-XYZ control matrix.
- • Setting review frequency and approval limits by class.
Demand Review and Planning Parameters
- • Demand patterns: stable, trend, seasonal, intermittent, and lumpy.
- • Moving average and exponential smoothing basics.
- • Forecast error measurement and its use in buffer sizing.
- • Master data hygiene: lead times, units of measure, and supplier records.
- • Item status control: active, slow, obsolete, and discontinued.
- • Order cycle design and supplier ordering calendars.
- • Planning calendar and review cadence.
Order Quantities, Safety Stock, and Reorder Rules
- • Economic order quantity and its assumptions.
- • Quantity discounts, minimum order quantities, and transport lots.
- • Safety stock formulas using service level and variability factors.
- • Reorder point calculation under variable demand and lead time.
- • Min-max systems and periodic review compared.
- • Two-bin and kanban replenishment in lean settings.
- • Service level targets and their cost trade-off.
Stock Control, Accuracy, and Obsolescence
- • Receiving, issuing, and returns control at the transaction level.
- • Location management and slotting discipline for accuracy.
- • Cycle counting design by item class and tolerance thresholds.
- • Root cause analysis of count variances.
- • Ageing analysis and slow-mover identification.
- • Obsolescence prevention: phase-out planning and substitution.
- • Adjustment governance, approval levels, and audit trails.
Performance Measurement and Improvement
- • Turnover, days of inventory, and cash tied up in stock.
- • Fill rate, order fulfilment rate, and stockout frequency.
- • Excess and obsolete reporting.
- • Stock policy review cycles and parameter tuning.
- • ERP and WMS reports, dashboards, and exception alerts.
- • Aligning stock policy with sales and operations planning.
- • Building an annual inventory optimisation roadmap.
Conclusion
By successfully completing the Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control Training Course, participants will have acquired a solid working knowledge of inventory classification, demand review, order quantity and safety stock calculation, replenishment rule setting, stock accuracy control, obsolescence management, and inventory performance measurement. They will leave able to set stock parameters that match real demand behaviour, reduce excess and obsolete holdings, and raise service levels without inflating stock. Gentex Training Center delivers this programme with inventory practitioners who run these controls in live operations.
FAQs for the Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control course
— What is the "Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control" course about?
It is a five-day programme on setting stock policy and controlling balances. It covers ABC and XYZ classification, demand review, economic order quantity, safety stock and reorder point setting, multi-location stock control, stock accuracy, obsolescence management, and inventory performance measurement.
— What are the key benefits of the "Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control" course?
Participants release cash tied up in excess stock, cut stockouts on important items, and stop slow movers from accumulating unnoticed. They also gain replenishment rules that respond to real demand, higher fill rates, and reporting that shows where stock policy needs adjustment.
— What skills will I gain from the "Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control" course?
You will gain inventory classification and policy setting, demand review and forecasting basics, safety stock and reorder point calculation, and stock accuracy, obsolescence control, and inventory performance measurement.
— What tools, methods, or standards are covered in the "Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control" course?
The course works with ABC and XYZ classification matrices, economic order quantity models, safety stock formulas with service level factors, reorder point and min-max systems, moving average and exponential smoothing forecasts with error measurement, two-bin and kanban replenishment, cycle counting with tolerance thresholds, ageing analysis, and ERP and WMS stock reports.
— How is the "Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control" course applied in real-world practice?
Teams apply it when resetting reorder points in the ERP, reviewing slow-moving stock each quarter, running cycle counts, and planning stock for seasonal peaks. It also guides supplier order quantities, branch transfer rules, and the inventory targets reported in management reviews.
Scheduling in Progress | Training Arranged Around Your Needs
Our team can coordinate this program based on available dates and locations. Contact us to explore training options that best fit your needs.
Introduction
Stock decisions sit between two costs that pull in opposite directions: the cost of holding too much and the cost of running out. Companies that get this balance right release cash, keep shelves full, and stop explaining shortages. This Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control Training Course gives inventory, planning, and warehouse professionals a structured method to set stock policy, plan replenishment, and control balances across multiple items and locations. Participants learn how to classify items, calculate safety stock and order quantities, set reorder rules, and read the indicators that reveal where stock is working and where it is not. Furthermore, the course covers stock accuracy, obsolescence control, and the governance that keeps a policy alive.
Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control Course Objectives
- Classify stock by ABC value logic and XYZ demand variability.
- Calculate economic order quantity and balance ordering against holding cost.
- Set safety stock using service level targets, demand deviation, and lead time deviation.
- Apply reorder point, min-max, and periodic review replenishment systems.
- Build simple demand forecasts using moving average and exponential smoothing.
- Manage stock across multiple locations with transfer and pooling rules.
- Control slow-moving, obsolete, and excess stock through ageing analysis.
- Maintain inventory accuracy with cycle counting and location discipline.
- Measure performance using turnover, days of inventory, fill rate, and stockout rate.
- Use ERP and WMS stock parameters, reports, and exception alerts correctly.
Course Methodology
- Facilitated sessions built on worked examples with real item and demand data.
- Spreadsheet drills on EOQ, safety stock, reorder point, and forecast accuracy.
- Case workshops on chronic shortages, excess stock, and slow-mover build-up.
- Physical and systemic stock control simulation with cycle counting.
- Group exercise on a stock policy reset with cost and service targets.
Who Should Take This Course
- Inventory controllers and stock analysts.
- Warehouse and stores supervisors.
- Demand and supply planners.
- Procurement officers managing replenishment orders.
- ERP and WMS super users and master data owners.
- Finance and audit staff reviewing inventory balances.
Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control Course Outlines
Inventory Fundamentals and Classification
- • Inventory types: raw material, work in progress, finished goods, and consumables.
- • Holding costs: capital, space, insurance, obsolescence, and shrinkage.
- • Shortage costs: lost sales, expediting, and production stoppage.
- • ABC classification by annual usage value.
- • XYZ classification by demand variability and forecast difficulty.
- • The combined ABC-XYZ control matrix.
- • Setting review frequency and approval limits by class.
Demand Review and Planning Parameters
- • Demand patterns: stable, trend, seasonal, intermittent, and lumpy.
- • Moving average and exponential smoothing basics.
- • Forecast error measurement and its use in buffer sizing.
- • Master data hygiene: lead times, units of measure, and supplier records.
- • Item status control: active, slow, obsolete, and discontinued.
- • Order cycle design and supplier ordering calendars.
- • Planning calendar and review cadence.
Order Quantities, Safety Stock, and Reorder Rules
- • Economic order quantity and its assumptions.
- • Quantity discounts, minimum order quantities, and transport lots.
- • Safety stock formulas using service level and variability factors.
- • Reorder point calculation under variable demand and lead time.
- • Min-max systems and periodic review compared.
- • Two-bin and kanban replenishment in lean settings.
- • Service level targets and their cost trade-off.
Stock Control, Accuracy, and Obsolescence
- • Receiving, issuing, and returns control at the transaction level.
- • Location management and slotting discipline for accuracy.
- • Cycle counting design by item class and tolerance thresholds.
- • Root cause analysis of count variances.
- • Ageing analysis and slow-mover identification.
- • Obsolescence prevention: phase-out planning and substitution.
- • Adjustment governance, approval levels, and audit trails.
Performance Measurement and Improvement
- • Turnover, days of inventory, and cash tied up in stock.
- • Fill rate, order fulfilment rate, and stockout frequency.
- • Excess and obsolete reporting.
- • Stock policy review cycles and parameter tuning.
- • ERP and WMS reports, dashboards, and exception alerts.
- • Aligning stock policy with sales and operations planning.
- • Building an annual inventory optimisation roadmap.
Conclusion
By successfully completing the Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control Training Course, participants will have acquired a solid working knowledge of inventory classification, demand review, order quantity and safety stock calculation, replenishment rule setting, stock accuracy control, obsolescence management, and inventory performance measurement. They will leave able to set stock parameters that match real demand behaviour, reduce excess and obsolete holdings, and raise service levels without inflating stock. Gentex Training Center delivers this programme with inventory practitioners who run these controls in live operations.
FAQs for the Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control course
— What is the "Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control" course about?
It is a five-day programme on setting stock policy and controlling balances. It covers ABC and XYZ classification, demand review, economic order quantity, safety stock and reorder point setting, multi-location stock control, stock accuracy, obsolescence management, and inventory performance measurement.
— What are the key benefits of the "Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control" course?
Participants release cash tied up in excess stock, cut stockouts on important items, and stop slow movers from accumulating unnoticed. They also gain replenishment rules that respond to real demand, higher fill rates, and reporting that shows where stock policy needs adjustment.
— What skills will I gain from the "Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control" course?
You will gain inventory classification and policy setting, demand review and forecasting basics, safety stock and reorder point calculation, and stock accuracy, obsolescence control, and inventory performance measurement.
— What tools, methods, or standards are covered in the "Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control" course?
The course works with ABC and XYZ classification matrices, economic order quantity models, safety stock formulas with service level factors, reorder point and min-max systems, moving average and exponential smoothing forecasts with error measurement, two-bin and kanban replenishment, cycle counting with tolerance thresholds, ageing analysis, and ERP and WMS stock reports.
— How is the "Effective Inventory Planning & Stock Control" course applied in real-world practice?
Teams apply it when resetting reorder points in the ERP, reviewing slow-moving stock each quarter, running cycle counts, and planning stock for seasonal peaks. It also guides supplier order quantities, branch transfer rules, and the inventory targets reported in management reviews.
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