Customer Reviews

Integrated Inventory Management (The Oliver Wight Companies)

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My review of Bernard's book is given relative to the dozen or so other inventory books I have bought, read and suffered through over the years. Bernard's books is clearly one of the best inventory management books I've come across.

The book contains a tremendous amount of detail; so much so, in fact, that there are often times when I wish I could just get to the simple equation or concept I am looking for without so much supplementary content. But this is a great problem to have, when I think back to another inventory book which thought that the statement "safety stocks should be calculated so that adequate coverage is given to demand while not incurring too much investment" was enough detail on that topic.

This book has two types of content: field content and consulting content. I have literally used its field content on several occassions during detailed project work (I am a professional supply chain consultant) to develop and calibrate forecasting models, help develop an MRP table and fields, calculate stocking levels, etc. I have used the consulting content to discuss the higher-level topics of inventory strategies, management capabilities and integrated planning with my clients. One client even bought the book himself after reading it over my shoulder. Both of these content types are found throughout the book, and its up to the reader to pick and choose what is relevant to his/her needs.

I highly, highly recommend this book to the supply chain / inventory specialist. Its both a great primer on material management fundamentals and a repository of leading edge thinking. Its scope is broad-based, so you may find other books that are deeper in a specific area (service parts, for example), but I challenge the reader to find another book both so broad and deep and rich enough in all inventory-related areas.