Reader Question

In your July 2008 edition of The Supply Chain Digest Letter on page 5, there is an article entitled Inventory Levels – Selected Industries.  I found these benchmark numbers to be very insightful.  Can you provide me with some additional information on these figures?  Are they for all inventory or only finished goods?  How big was the data source that was used to compile the data? 

Director
Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry

Category: Inventory Optimization

 
 
Expert Panelist Response: From Dan Gilmore, Editor, SCDigest


We are in the process of updating the data for year end 2007 data. Should have in two weeks or so – look for it in SCDigest e-newsletter.

The data is for total inventory turns/DIO, based on public filings. So, includes both finished and raw/WIP. Will note that it used year end data, so may actually overstate performance, as often companies dump inventory at year end for tax reasons. We are looking at doing this quarterly.

We are looking to expand and or further refine the data for 2007 (e.g., specialty vs basic chemicals). 

Hope this helps.

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