Last year, our Chief Supply Chain Insights research arm issued an excellent report on better managing network-wide inventories.

That report was based in part on a major survey of inventory practices and perceived opportunities in improving network-wide inventory management, based on respondes from over 300 SCDigest readers.

SCDigest Says:

Said one electronics industry respondent: "I think many of us have supply chain and inventory management technology that was built for a different time, or at least a different level of understanding What Do You Say? Click Here to Send Us Your Comments Click Here to See Reader Feedback

The full report was made available last year, and it can be downloaded here: Five Strategies for Improving Inventory Management Across Complex Supply Chain Networks

It turns out we never published a separate article with some highlights of the findings, and think it is not too late to do that here in Q3 2012.

As noted in the report, a variety of factors are combining to increase supply chain network complexity for most companies. Those factors include:

• Increased global scope and reach that must be managed

• Increasing virtualization and resulting loss of visibility and control

• Challenges resulting from multi-channel go-to-market strategies

• Shrinking product lifecycles not only in well-recognized areas such as high tech and electronics but in virtually every manufacturing sector.

• Multi-channel commerce

That overall complexity of course increases the challenges of managing inventory effectively across the network.

Among the many survey questions and charts, CSCO Insights asked respondents how mature they thought their companies were in terms network-wide inventory management processes.

The results are about what we might have expected: just 8.5% said their current processes have reached an "excellent" level, though 27.5% said their processes were "good."

Importantly, however, that leaves just over 60% said their current processes were average or worse - meaning the majority of companies have a lot of work to do to tackle the network inventory problem holistically.

Source: CSCO Insights

The story was much the same when it comes to the maturity of technology enablement companies have reached to manage complex network inventories.

Here, just 6% of respondents put themselves in the "excellent" group, and 24% in the "good" category, both numbers down a few percentage points from the process maturity perspective; some 70% rated themselves as just average or worse.

Said one electronics industry respondent: "I think many of us have supply chain and inventory management technology that was built for a different time, or at least a different level of understanding. We need something new to manage this challenge effectively today."

Another respondent added that "There is technology to do this well, but it can be hard to implement, and not many have done it."

(Supply Chain Trends and Issues Article - Continued Below)