Dec 15, 2025 Christoph Wiericks
ShareIn hardly any other area is the complexity of everyday work as clearly noticeable as in scheduling. Items run out, suppliers postpone deadlines, demand forecasts change overnight, and issues such as customs poker, sanctions, or deforestation regulations place additional strain on planning. Nevertheless, delivery capability must be guaranteed at all times.
Anyone who wants to keep track of everything here has to master an enormous amount of information and needs more than just experience and gut feeling: smart, software-supported inventory optimization becomes a decisive factor for stability, efficiency, and competitiveness. This is exactly where modern solutions come in. They reduce complexity, highlight exceptions, and support stable, proactive inventory decisions with AI-based forecasts.
Many retail companies still manage their inventories with manually maintained spreadsheets and reactive processes. But these methods are reaching their limits. As soon as the product range, suppliers, or sales channels grow, the effort involved explodes and planners spend most of their time maintaining data instead of making decisions. Modern planning software, such as ADD*ONE, reverses this ratio: no list maintenance, just control. It follows the principle of exception orientation (management by exception). This means that planners no longer have to check all items, but only those that actually require action. This creates a clear focus on the essentials, while at the same time increasing planning reliability and saving considerable time.
Software solutions such as ADD*ONE can combine AI-based forecasts with the experience of users. The systems filter complex, interlinked information and show users exactly the content that is relevant to their decisions. In doing so, they automatically identify anomalies in demand, suggest order quantities, and list where intervention is appropriate. Data from sales, delivery times, trends, and seasonality flow into self-adapting models that continuously adjust to current conditions without manual intervention. The benefits for users are obvious: optimized decision preparation through context-related information and AI forecasting improves decision quality and relieves teams of routine tasks. The time saved can be used for exceptions, coordination, and strategic tasks.
Another advantage of modern planning systems is that they visualize complex relationships in an understandable way and make them accessible in a clearly structured, intuitive interface. Advanced planning tools such as ADD*ONE bundle all stocks and requirements across the entire supply network, from the central warehouse to the store, and display them in interactive range and planning graphics. This makes it possible to see at a glance how long stocks will last, where items are in the flow of goods, and what effects certain decisions will have on other nodes in the network. This visual transparency not only creates control, but also understanding, which is an important basis for communicating decisions in a comprehensible manner throughout the company.
Reactive planning responds to disruptions – proactive inventory optimization prevents them.
Modern inventory optimization solutions such as ADD*ONE help to identify critical situations at an early stage, before stock shortages occur or excess stock ties up capital.
AI-supported forecasts and clearly defined strategies for meeting demand help to maintain a balance between security of supply and economic efficiency. Parameters such as the target service level, relevant cost rates, or maximum ranges are controlled centrally, so that company-specific logic is fully preserved. Modern solutions accordingly help to make better use of the added value in inventory management – in a more transparent, data-based, and scalable way.
For purchasing managers, inventory optimization today means much more than just replenishment planning. It's about transparency regarding inventory and movement data, forecasts, and key figures such as capital commitment and inventory costs. Modern systems such as ADD*ONE provide this overview at the touch of a button on a single platform. Such clear overviews create a reliable basis for operational planning decisions and make it possible to take cost efficiency, delivery capability, and agility into account in equal measure.
The strength of modern scheduling systems lies in the combination of precise, data-based analyses and the experience of the users. For example, the systems calculate ideal order quantities and order times, highlight options, and provide well-founded recommendations for action. However, where a recommendation cannot be implemented automatically without risk, the scheduler retains the decision-making authority.
Solutions such as ADD*ONE support this process by providing information precisely where it is needed. This changes the understanding of roles: Planners no longer act purely as order processors, but as process designers who actively contribute to value creation with the help of intelligent tools.
Companies that rely on modern solutions and AI for inventory optimization gain a noticeable advantage: they increase their delivery capability, reduce operational risks, and gain significantly more planning security. At the same time, the effort involved in day-to-day business is reduced because planners need to intervene reactively less often and can plan proactively much more frequently.
Systems such as ADD*ONE demonstrate how closely operational efficiency and economic controllability are linked: transparent network views, precise forecasts, and automatically considered business logic ensure that decisions are not only made faster but also on a more informed basis. This means that every operational decision (e.g., “How much do I reorder?” “When do I place an order?”) is simultaneously optimized from an economic perspective. The result is inventory management that is not only more efficient, but also more resilient and motivating – for dispatchers, purchasers, and managers alike. This transforms a complex, reactive process into a transparent, forward-looking value-added factor.
What methods do you use to optimize your inventory?
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About our Expert
Christoph Wiericks
Expert for Supply Chain Optimization
Christoph Wiericks has been strengthening the Inventory & Supply Chain division at INFORM GmbH since 2016. With in-depth expertise in supply chain optimisation, he supports companies in selecting the right AI solutions. His particular focus is on analysing and optimising inventories and implementing efficient planning strategies. As an experienced sales specialist, he guides companies through the decision-making process and finds tailored solutions to their challenges.
