Inventory Management Volume 2

Inventory Management Vol. 2 updates some topics in Pete Kornafel's Inventory Management and Purchasing book published in 2004. The good news is that much of the original book is still “best practice” for forecasting and purchasing inventory for hard goods distributors. This Vol. 2 book has better ways to address several automotive inventory management issues. So, newer, best practice processes are included here. This Volume 2 includes new material on SKU forecasting with the addition of external data, a big new section on store assortment planning, some new techniques for managing special cases such as multiple sources, hub-spoke store networks, promotions, category management and supply chain collaboration. Note that some of these new techniques, particularly assortment planning and promotion management, do not exist in the form described here. They are my own designs with what I feel would be “best practice in these areas. And this Volume 2 has some personal observations about the future of the automotive aftermarket in the U.S., with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the (hopefully) short term, and some longer-term factors that will someday profoundly change the aftermarket. As with my first book, all the examples are from the automotive aftermarket. The owners of the 280 million vehicles in the U.S. all expect that virtually any repair or maintenance job can be performed today. They expect their vehicle will be fixed correctly the first time and be ready by 5 p.m. That level of service is not generally available on many other items. It is unlikely you can get your computer, refrigerator, etc. fixed in one day. That level of service requires a huge investment in inventory very close to automotive service outlets, and managing that is a survival skill for automotive aftermarket companies. Almost all of the material on purchasing topics in my Volume 1, Chapters 13 to 21, is still appropriate and these topics are not addressed in this Vol. 2. So, if you don’t have a copy of my Volume 1, it is available at AuthorHouse or on Amazon, at https://amazon.com/INVENTORY-MANAGEMENT-PURCHASING-TECHNIQUES-AFTERMARKET/dp/1414059086/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=kornafel&qid=1591042994&sr=8-2. And, thank you for buying this book. As with my original book, all royalties from this Vol 2. book will be donated to the Automotive Scholarship Program within the University of the Aftermarket Foundation. In the 20+ years of the aftermarket scholarship program, more than 5,000 scholarships have been awarded to students planning automotive careers. See the automotive scholarship website at www.automotivescholarships.com.