IMA Business Overview

Inventory Management Associates (UK) Ltd. - The Victoria, 25 St. Pancras, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 7LT 1

Inventory Management Associates

IMA has been helping clients improve their demand forecasting & inventory management performance for over 30 years across a wide range of business sectors.

Often clients spend a considerable amount of time & cash implementing the very latest ERP systems, which generally work well but often fail to deliver the inventory & resultant service level improvements that were projected.

IMA’s demand forecasting & inventory management software has been specifically developed to plug a gap in the functionality of the current batch of ERP systems. Our main aim is absolute focus on the key inventory & forecasting data so that management & their teams stay in control.

IMA has also developed an inventory management dashboard to enable management to see at a glance the pre-defined Key Performance Indictaors of their inventory with the ability via a ‘one-click’ function to drill-down into the detail and

perhaps more importantly the specific actions by part that need attention immediately.

In this brochure we explain the following:-

• The reality of the inventory management system & resultant inventory issues

• How IMA operates

• Clients we have helped

• The IMA toolkit & management dashboard

• How we interface to the clients ERP system

• Webex demonstration

• Inventory demonstration

• The Rental Agreement

• How to contact us

Inventory Management Associates (UK) Ltd. - The Victoria, 25 St. Pancras, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 7LT (p) – 01485 520 994 or at www.invman.com 2

An introduction to IMA

IMA is somewhat unique in that it chooses to rent rather than sell its software. The reason behind this philosophy is simple - if we don’t deliver improvements to the client’s inventory management performance we can simply be eliminated. This makes sure that IMA works very closely indeed with the client to deliver what is promised.

All of IMA’s preparatory work with the client from the initial demonstration of the software via webex through to final implementation is normally entirely free of charge. The client only begins payment once the software is operating successfully.

We hope you find the information of interest.


Increasingly IMA’s work has focused on the performance of the client’s inventory management system & how much SLUDGE inventory (i.e. inventory that isn’t selling) the client is holding & sometimes even continuing to order. Typically we see 50% of a client’s inventory supporting the bottom 20% of sales. This is a result of:-


The reality of the inventory management system & resultant inventory issues.

• Despite significant investment in ERP systems companies often find they have not realised the inventory & service level benefits predicted or demanded.

• IMA offers 30 years of experience in helping companies plug this gap & has developed software specifically to address this problem

• IMA is unique in that it chooses to rent its software rather than sell it. The Client benefits by knowing that should IMA not deliver what the Client needs they can simply terminate the contract.

• Poor or non-existent demand forecasting

• Poor stock v. non-stock categorisation of parts & no tools to assist

• Inadequate control of the critical planning parameters

• Inadequate management reporting so by the time the problem is spotted it’s too late & SLUDGE is growing

• Overstock of some products and under stocking in others which results in poor service to customers

• Re-ordering of parts that are not selling

• Failure to control end of life parts

• Failure to manage the introduction of new parts so a marketing launch is quickly followed by inadequate supply – the sales team’s nightmare!!

• A plethora of spreadsheets to overcome weaknesses in the legacy ERP system & poor control of them

• Inability to see the future cost implications of planning decisions

Poor inventory control results in a poor service level, poor cash flow and ultimately impacts the financial results of the business.

If any of the above applies in your company IMA can greatly assist


• IMA has been helping companies for over 30 years to improve their supply chain through demand forecasting linked to inventory management.

• IMA offers powerful forecasting & inventory management software tools that link directly to any of the major ERP systems.

• IMA is unique in that it chooses to rent its software rather than sell it. The Client benefits by knowing that should IMA not deliver what the Client needs they can simply terminate the contract.

• We start by working with you to set out the inventory policies & KPIs t o support the businesses’ objectives

• We then work with you to establish inventory and service level targets so improvements can be measured

• We establish your current inventory status against the targets so we have a benchmark

• We download the critical data into the IMA software – typically daily from the host ERP system

• We use the IMA management dashboard as the heartbeat of our software to provide, in one simple display, the critical inventory KPIs & business trends to give you control

• And then in a ‘one-click’ operation the software drills down into the detail behind each KPI or trend so you can see the relevant data

• Our software reports daily the critical items that need replenishing & those that do not

• Our software highlights the reordering parameters from the host ERP system that no longer reflect the business trends - some clients choose to upload our recommendations into the host ERP system

• We provide both standard reports & allow user defined reports that can be shared across the company

Our entire focus is on management control based upon the reality of the data


Here’s how we operate:-

IMA believes that constant review of the critical inventory data is vital to reduce SLUDGE inventory & improve cash flow & service level & provides the toolkit to do it


Business sector Company

Food and Beverages Whitbread, Bulmers, Wrigleys, Bisto, Kavli, Sharwoods

Retail & Distribution

Manufacturing

Citizen Watch, Halfords, Hush Puppies, Universal Music, Colgate Palmolive

Hexcel Composites, York International, Howard Smith Paper, KME, Antalis,Avery,

TSI, Certex, Abingdon Flooring, R M Curtis, Applied Energy, Emhart Teknologies, Quantel

Services

Spare parts

Consumables

Pharmaceuticals

Northumbrian Water

Partco, Quinton Hazell Automotive, Vauxhall

Fuji Graphics

Omega Pharmaceuticals


IMA has brought supply chain improvements to a wide variety of clients in a number of business sectors including.

This breadth of experience is invaluable to most clients




The IMA Inventory Management Dashboard is just part of the manager’s toolkit



IMA’s software is specifically designed to use the client’s existing data to better manage inventory:-

Reports on the critical reordering data & projects the effect on inventory of current purchase or manufacturing orders. In one screen management & planners can see the effect of their decisions & actions

For each part within each selected category the data is displayed in graphical format for ease of viewing



IMA’s software totally focuses on the critical inventory management data & continually monitors business levels & reports on the actions required to service client’s demand:-

Demand forecasting is an integral part of the IMA toolkit & enables changes in business activity to be monitored & controlled

The user can manually override the sales forecast where market knowledge may prove more accurate. The forecast is changed by simply dragging the forecast line to the required value and the appropriate reason code is entered and stored for future reference



IMA interfaces to the existing legacy ERP system:

IMA toolkit delivers powerful inventory analysis to re-balance client’s inventory whilst maintaining the integrity of the host ERP system

Host ERP

system

Inventory Management

Consolidated reporting

Demand Forecasting

Demand Planning

• Powerful demand forecasting algorithms • Optimal fit technology • Graphic & data table view • View effect of forecast on inventory & cash

flow

• Product categorisation by movement or value • Rebalancing of inventory • inventory investment & resultant service level • View effect of inventory mgmt. decisions

• Consolidated management reporting • No duplication causing confusion • Focus on what’s critical • Eliminate spreadsheets

• Control of critical planning parameters • Categorisation of stock v. non-stock parts • Automatic reordering trigger points • Supplier performance analysis


IMA offers a number of options for its initial work with a client. We start with a simple Webex demonstration, often leading to an inventory demonstration optionally using the client’s own data or test data. For those clients who take this option IMA can demonstrate how balanced the inventory is and areas that could be improved. All our initial work is free of charge.


The IMA approach

Demo via Webex By simply dialling in to a Webex session IMA can demonstrate the functionality of its Inventory Management Software in just a few minutes

Inventory Demonstration Allow us temporary access to your inventory data and we will analyse how effectively your inventory is supporting your business and demonstrate how it can be improved

IMA initial work is entirely free of charge & with no up front costs during implementation


The Rental Agreement

• The client rents the software for an initial 3 month period

• Thereafter the client will extend the rental only if they feel it is a cost effective solution

• The rental charge only commences when the system is fully operational to the client’s satisfaction on the client’s server

• There are no other ‘hidden’ charges other than if the client requests very specific programming requirements which in most cases are minimal or non-existent

• There are no further consultancy charges at any time during installation & client training

• Many, in fact most, additional requirements that arise as the client uses the system are provided free of charge

• There is no seat charge – the licence is for as many users on-site who wish to use the system


IMA rents its software.

To stay in business IMA must deliver improvements to the client’s inventory - simple fact


Call or contact one of the following:-

Tony Dear – Principal of IMA on – 07973 831540 or e-mail to [email protected]

John Kennell – Marketing on – 07922 202296 or e-mail to [email protected]

Enid Farley – Business Development on – 01485 520 994 or e-mail to [email protected]

For further information please visit our web site at – www.invman.com

IMA also has published a series of articles in a number of trade magazines:-

• Sales forecasting to drive S&OP

• Sludge inventory

For a copy please contact John Kennell at [email protected]


To contact IMA for an initial discussion, a Webex demonstration or a free Inventory Demonstration:

Thank you for reading our literature

mailto:[email protected]



http://www.invman.com/


IMA Business Overview

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