Different Types of Inventory Control in Brazilian Companies

Abstract

Effective inventory control is a requirement for operational processes to run smoothly and requires in turn that inventory data be reliable. Undesirable effects may otherwise be produced in different areas of the organization such as a reduction in service level or a drop in operational efficiency because of unforeseen stoppages or rescheduling of production caused by inventory inaccuracy. This study seeks to identify how different types of inventory control affect inventory accuracy. This is a descriptive research and the approach adopted was the use of multiple cases - seven case studies in Brazilian companies. The main results include a classification of inventory control operations so that the companies could be classified as: high, medium and low inventory accuracy practices. In addition, the study correlates different types of inventory control with the inventory accuracy index for each of the seven companies and shows the relationship between the types of control, the importance attached to inventory control by the organization, the number of inventory items and the accuracy index.

Article history: Received (06. November 2012); Revised (10. January 2013); Accepted (23. March 2013)