04: Inventory
Putting it plainly, McKinsey states “too much inventory ties up capital, leading to high capital costs.” But, by reducing excessive supply in stock can lower these.
Industry 4.0 capabilities allow manufacturers to target excess inventory, including inaccurate stock numbers, unreliable demand planning, or overproduction. Typically organisations can reduce costs for inventory holding by 20 to 50%, by harnessing solutions such as real-time supply chain optimisation.
“Würth’s iBins, for example, uses intelligent camera technologies to capture the actual fill level of a supply box whether it is stored on the shelf or has been moved to the production line. The box is wirelessly connected and automatically reorders supply based on accurate fill information,” says McKinsey.