Inventory management in the footwear industry

Abstract

There are some industries that are traditionally fashion dependent. This is the case of the footwear industry where products are replaced usually every six months. In this context, the difficulty in forecasting accurately demand for new items is a serious obstacle to an efficient inventory management. The main objective of this study was to identify and analyze the difficulties faced by a Portuguese footwear company and propose solutions to improve inventory management. The most relevant raw materials used by the company were identified through an ABC analysis and suggestions for the redefinition of procedures were made to improve inventory management performance.