how i help

Put clear ownership, decision rules, and discipline around inventory as your business grows.

In many mid sized businesses, inventory decisions are made every day but rarely in a deliberate or consistent way.

Someone adjusts a reorder point to avoid a stockout.
A planner adds buffer to protect service.
Operations builds ahead “just in case”.
Finance questions excess stock after the fact.

Individually, these decisions make sense. Collectively, they create drift.

I focus on restoring clarity and discipline to these decisions without slowing the business down.

What Inventory Governance Means in a Growing Business

Inventory governance is not about heavy policy, committees, or layers of approval. In practical terms, it answers four simple questions:

• Who is allowed to change inventory settings?

• What rules guide those changes?

• How are trade offs between service, cash, and risk resolved?

• How do we know when inventory is drifting out of control?

Without clear answers, inventory becomes reactive, inconsistent, and highly dependent on individual judgement.

That may work while a business is small. It rarely scales.

Common Symptoms of Weak Inventory Governance

Most mid sized businesses experience governance issues long before they recognise them as such. Typical symptoms include:

• Inventory targets set but not actively managed

• Different planners or sites applying different logic

• Reorder points and safety stock quietly inflated over time

• Changes made in systems with little visibility or explanation

• Finance challenging outcomes without being part of decisions

• Key people carrying tribal knowledge that is not documented

These are not people problems. They are governance gaps.

When Governance Gaps Become Visible

One of the clearest examples I have seen involved a warehouse manager at a mid sized distribution business placing a single order for $28 million of stock. Forty containers arrived. Cash was immediately stretched, and the business was left scrambling to fund inventory it had not deliberately chosen to hold. When issues of this magnitude occur, they are rarely the result of one poor decision. They expose the gaps in ownership, controls, and decision rules that allowed it to happen in the first place.

Why Inventory Governance Matters as Businesses Grow

As volume increases, product ranges expand, and teams specialise, informal decision making begins to break down.

Strong governance provides:

• Consistency without rigidity

• Accountability without bureaucracy

• Visibility without micromanagement

Done well, it allows teams to move faster with more confidence, not less.

How I Help

My work in inventory governance is designed specifically for growing, mid sized businesses. The goal is simple. Introduce enough structure to support good decisions without slowing operations.

Clear decision rights
I define who can change inventory settings, introduce or discontinue SKUs, and override planning signals, and under what circumstances.

Simple, practical rules
I establish clear guidance on when buffers can be adjusted, how service targets are set, and how exceptions are handled versus routine decisions.

Transparency and visibility
Changes are documented, understandable, and visible across supply chain, operations, and finance. This reduces friction and hindsight driven debate.

Review and escalation rhythms
Lightweight review processes ensure inventory drift is identified early, trade offs are discussed before problems escalate, and decisions are revisited as conditions change.

This is governance through rhythm, not paperwork.

How This Fits With Broader Inventory and Planning Work

Inventory governance underpins effective:

• Inventory management

• Production planning

• Spare parts management

• Working capital improvement

Without governance, optimisation efforts decay over time.
With governance, improvements stick.

Outcomes Businesses Typically See

When governance is clarified and embedded, businesses commonly experience:

• More stable inventory levels

• Fewer surprise stockouts or excess write offs

• Reduced reliance on individual heroics

• Better alignment between operations, supply chain, and finance

• Greater confidence in inventory decisions at leadership level

Next step: Bring Discipline Back to Inventory Decisions

Inventory governance does not require a corporate overhaul. It requires clarity, discipline, and shared understanding. If inventory decisions feel inconsistent, reactive, or overly dependent on a handful of individuals, it is often a sign that governance needs strengthening.