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The supply chain landscape in 2025 is marked by volatility, global uncertainties, and rapid technological changes. In this environment, leaders need to adopt innovative practices to ensure efficiency, resilience, and competitiveness. Below, we highlight four key strategies for managing inventory and supply chain operations in this new era.
Traditional management, which treats all items equally, no longer meets the needs of today’s market. Inventory stratification involves classifying SKUs according to their importance, value to the customer, turnover rate, and impact on results. This allows companies to prioritize investments in the most strategic items and reduce waste on products that are less relevant or have low turnover.
By segmenting inventory, companies can allocate resources more intelligently and maintain greater flexibility to respond to changes in demand or crises. Additionally, the physical layout of the warehouse can be optimized, placing high-volume items closer to shipping areas.
The just-in-time (JIT) model has been widely adopted for its efficiency in reducing inventory costs. However, in unstable environments like those experienced in recent years, relying exclusively on JIT can be risky. On the other hand, maintaining large safety stocks (just-in-case) increases costs and can lead to obsolescence.
The solution lies in balance: reserving safety stock for critical items while keeping lean inventory levels for less impactful products. This approach requires constant analysis of lead times, risk of shortages, and demand behavior, allowing for quick adjustments as the situation changes.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing demand planning and forecasting, making them more accurate and dynamic. Advanced AI models can incorporate a wide range of variables, including historical data, market trends, economic indicators, and even external signals such as weather or global events.
Beyond improving forecasting, AI can automate replenishment processes, identify hidden patterns, and support strategic decision-making. The use of this technology also enables companies to respond proactively to disruptions, quickly adjusting their inventory and production plans.
The zero-based exercise involves rethinking the entire inventory and supply chain strategy from scratch, without being tied to previous practices or structures. Instead of making incremental improvements to existing processes, leaders should question all assumptions and build a new model aligned with the current needs of the company and the market.
This approach allows resilience to be built in from the start, considering scenarios of disruption and uncertainty. With the support of simulations and digital technologies, it is possible to design more robust, flexible, and future-ready logistics networks.
Managing inventory and supply chain operations has never been more challenging—and at the same time, so full of opportunities. Those who combine technology, flexibility, and strategy gain a competitive edge, even amid so much uncertainty. The key is to stay open to innovation and to rethink processes, always keeping an eye on what the future holds for logistics and the supply chain.
