Artikelklassificering som en förutsättning för operativ lagerstyrning : En fallstudie om förbättringsmöjlighet på Alutrade

Sammanfattning: Background: Inventory control is a complex challenge that affects various activities on howinventory is controlled and managed. The management of inventory has a major impact on acompany's profitability and needs to be handled in different ways depending on the situationthe company is operating in. In order to improve operational inventory management forcompanies that have customer-unique products, high inventory availability and the desire forincreased inventory turnover rate, different aspects need to be addressed. Different items in acompany's assortment have different properties, and in order to control items in a goodassortment, a differentiation of the control can be developed. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find a way to improve Alutrade's operationalinventory control and theoretically contribute with an analysis of which classification basescompanies in a similar situation should analyse when a model for differentiated control isdeveloped. The study aims to differentiate different operational models to adapt to differentitem characteristics to achieve an increased inventory turnover rate. Method: This study is treated with a deductive approach and contains both a qualitative andquantitative research method. The empirical data collected during the study consists ofinterviews, observations, focus groups and excel documents from the company's businesssystem Jeeves for calculations. The data is collected through unstructured and semi-structuredinterviews and observations. Results: By analysing Alutrade's situation, various problems could be identified in theircurrent work regarding operational inventory control. To remedy these problems, differentclassification bases for a differentiated control were analysed. This is to develop a model thatcan provide the opportunity to increase the stock turnover rate based on Alutrade'sconditions. A classification of articles is presented and gives the opportunity to applydifferent operational layer certification methods to the 9 different categories. The differentiated control handles, among other things, methods for service level, crew pointsystem, EOQ and gives recommendations for how they should be applied for each category.Through this, Alutrade can work to increase its inventory turnover rate and prioritize itsefforts where they make the most sense. Through the application of relevant classificationbases, a framework for differentiated control can be developed and different operationalinventory control methods can then be adapted for each category and provide an increase inthe inventory turnover rate. Keyword: Inventory, operational inventory control, differentiated inventory control,inventory turnover rate, classification bases, order time, order quantity, safety stock, servicelevel, ABC-XYZ analysis