Robin Gregg

When service levels slip, most organizations respond the same way: add more inventory. A little extra safety stock here, a buffer there, and to many businesses, that feels like the safest path forward. But it rarely works. Instead of solving the problem, businesses end up with bloated inventory in one location and stockouts in another. Working capital climbs, service is still inconsistent, and planners are stuck reacting rather than improving outcomes. It’s like trying to fix traffic by adding more cars to the road, and congestion just gets worse. This is the inventory trap: chasing service by piling up stock instead of managing it strategically.   What is Multi-Echelon Inventory Optimization? Multi-Echelon inventory optimization (MEIO) helps you put the right inventory in the right places across your network to hit service goals with less total stock. Instead of optimizing each site in isolation, MEIO looks at your entire network of plants, distribution centers, suppliers, and customers as one connected system.   The three most common inventory issues businesses face At its core, MEIO answers three questions every supply chain leader is asking: Where should we hold inventory? Not every location needs the same level of protection. MEIO determines the most…

Stay up to date on all the latest conversations, interviews, and episodes we released this week here at Supply Chain Now! We started this week off with an episode of Supply Chain Now as Scott Luton chats with Lora Cecere and Dr. Madhav Durbha, Vice President of Supply Chain Strategy for Coupa Software. In Monday’s episode of This Week In Business History, Scott Luton talks about the history and development of video games- from the origins of Atari to the companies that are currently dominating the market. On Tuesday, we republished a classic TEKTOK episode with host Karin Bursa. In this episode, Karin shares six strategies for greater supply chain resilience. On Wednesday’s Supply Chain Now episode, Scott had a great conversation with culture expert, author, and speaker Ray Attiyah with Run Improve Grow. Scott and Ray talk about the key points in his new book, Fearless Front Line: The Key to Liberating Leaders to Improve & Grow Their Business. On Thursday, we released another episode of Supply Chain Now with host Scott Luton and special co-host Allison Giddens. Scott and Allison welcome Chad Molen with NIMBL, and Dan Reeve with Esker to the show. On Friday, we released the…