3. How did inventory optimization impact operations and decision making at P&G?
In P&G’s vision of the consumer-driven supply network (CSDN), daily demand updates providetimely warning of changes in product consumption. To make the CDSN work, this informationmust then be rapidly integrated into replenishment plans, which would then involve all partnersand suppliers in the supply chain.
4. Why wouldn’t a small company derive much benefit from multi-echelon inventory optimizationas a large company? Explain your answer.
Multi echelon and Inventory Optimization are in fact two separate technologies, but they aretypically bundled together in MEIO applications. Multi echelon planning answers the question”where” inventory should be located, and inventory optimization answers the question “how”much should be maintained in order to meet a certain service level target.While small and large company would both benefit from Inventory Optimization, Multi echelon isless applicable to small companies most especially if it has only few suppliers, wherein the“where” can be obviously answered without even processing the array of information.