Description
Analyze, forecast, and optimize inventory across the product lifecycle to meet service targets at minimal cost. Coordinate demand, replenishment, allocation, and accuracy controls, ensuring timely distribution, balanced stock levels, and effective obsolescence management.
- • Maintain and develop positive relationships with procurement, sales, operations, and suppliers involved in inventory activities.
- • Analyze demand and customer requirements and translate them into inventory plans.
- • Direct availability and allocation of materials, components, and finished goods using forecasts and policies.
- • Collaborate across functions to meet service levels, support promotions, and mitigate shortages or excess.
- • Safeguard controlled inventory and ensure data integrity, traceability, and compliance.
- • Review inventory performance against targets such as turns, fill rate, days of supply, and accuracy.
- • Develop and implement forecasting, replenishment, and inventory optimization tools and dashboards.
- • Coordinate team activities for cycle counts, reconciliation, and parameter maintenance.
- • Report inventory plans, variances, root causes, and corrective actions.
- • Compile, cleanse, and analyze source data (sales history, lead times, BOMs, yields) for planning.
- • Present inventory strategies and trade-offs to management and stakeholders.
- • Build proposals and business cases with documented assumptions, costs, and savings.
- • Plan, organize, and execute inventory control initiatives, including cycle counts and process audits.
- • Provide data and analysis for S&OP and capacity planning.
- • Evaluate SKU rationalization, new product introductions, and end-of-life impacts on inventory.
- • Develop and maintain SOPs, training materials, and item master/inventory parameters.
- • Evaluate and apply inventory technologies (ERP/MRP, WMS, forecasting tools) to improve processes.
- • Redesign stocking policies and material flows to reduce stockouts, carrying costs, and waste.
- • Manage VMI, consignment, and supplier replenishment programs and performance.
- • Oversee product lifecycle inventory activities, including sample provisioning, phase-in/phase-out, and obsolescence disposition.
- • Perform inventory cost and lifecycle analyses, including safety stock, reorder points, MOQ, and ABC/XYZ segmentation.
- • Support departmental operations, including physical inventories, storage capacity planning, and mentoring junior staff.
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Supply Chain & Transportation
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
