Spreadsheet Models for Managers


Getting Access to Spreadsheet Models for Managers


If Spreadsheet Models for Managersyou use Excel to model businesses, business processes, or business transactions, this course will change your life. You’ll learn how to create tools for yourself that will amaze even you. Unrestricted use of this material is available in two ways.

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Spreadsheet Models for Managers

Importance of inventory 11/3
Session Links
  • Inventory management is most important in goods-oriented operations
    • Manufacturing
    • Mining
    • Retail
    • Real estate development/rental
    • Wholesale distribution/logistics
    • Fulfillment
  • Inventory is less important when
    • Added value is mostly not related to goods
      • Professional services operations
      • Software or other knowledge-driven companies
    • Finished Goods (and their components) cannot be stocked
      • Electric power
      • Broadcasting
      • Telecommunications
      • Common carrier transport
      • Education
      • Entertainment
    • But even these organizations must inventory some items
  • Keep inventory low when holding costs are high

Inventory issues can have varying importance — not all parts of all businesses are equally affected. While it’s true that most businesses require some sort of material inventory, and that without it, they might not be able to operate, the relative importance of that inventory in financial terms can vary dramatically.

The importance of managing inventory is driven by two factors: the cost of stockouts and the cost of holding inventory. For instance, when interest rates are high, most organizations pay more attention to managing inventory. But even when interest rates are low, if energy costs are high, organizations that hold frozen inventory, which consumes energy just sitting there, pay more attention to managing inventory.

Last Modified: Wednesday, 27-Apr-2016 04:15:26 EDT

Assuming Constant Demand

Although the assumption of constant demand is critical to justifying the derivation of the formula for Economic Order Quantity, most problems don’t satisfy that requirement in the strict sense. But EOQ is nevertheless a valuable concept in two kinds of circumstances. The first case is when the time scale of the inventory management decisions is much shorter than the time scale of the variations in demand. And the second is when the fluctuations in demand occur much more rapidly than the inventory management decisions.

These two approximations occur repeatedly in modeling problems. Watch for opportunities to apply them elsewhere.