Two Minute Topics - Ep 60 Inventory Mangement Part 6: Multi-Echelon Inventory & Network Optimization

This is the sixth episode of a nine-part series on inventory management, and will focus on a systme wide look at how inventory functions across multiple layers of a supply chain. Did you realize that inventory lives across your entire supply chain? From suppliers to manufacturers to distribution facilities, transportation providers, and customer-facing locations…inventory exists throughout multiple nodes with each serving a purpose in keeping product flow. Multi-echelon inventory management looks at that network as a connected system rather than as individual stocking points. It’s about understanding how placement across multiple levels influences total system performance, balancing cost, service, and risk simultaneously. How does this work in practice? Coordinating inventory across echelons, aligning stocking strategies to network design, and determining where inventory adds value versus where it creates redundancy. When executed deliberately, it shifts the focus from “how much” to “where and why,” transforming inventory into a structured, proactive, and strategic element of the supply chain. #supplychain #processimprovement #inventorymanagement #strategy #smallbusiness #smallbusinesstips #business #operations #inventory #inventorycontrol