because P&G's Supply chains are so extensive, the chance for any errors or inefficiencies to occur are greater than with t Smaller, more compact supply chains. Inventory tion for a company as large as P&G is therefore critical to cutting costs and increasing revenues. P&G was already renowned for its supply ain management, successfully reducing its surplus Hventory with sales and operations planning, better recasting, just-in-time delivery strategies, and endor managed inventory activity. But multi-eche- inventory optimization has provided the company with a new means to achieve even higher levels of efficiency Multi-echelon networks are networks in which ucts are located in a variety of locations along path to distribution, some of which are in differ B chelons', or tiers, of the enterprise's distribution twork. For example, large retailers' distribution