Benchmarking companies on inventory metrics & their success in becoming more sustainable – EyeOn

 

 Overview

Company Name / Department EyeOn
Contact Person

Maarten Driessen

Location Croy Castle (Aarle-Rixtel) / home
Study programme(s)

Supply chain management or related (finance, OR)

Community Data2Move
Start Date 01/09/2021
Housing arranged by company No

Compensation 

€500,- per month, including travelling expenses

Company Description

EyeOn is an international expert in forecasting & planning services, with focus on four industries: process, life science (pharma, medical devices), consumer products and high-tech. See www.eyeon.nl for more information.
 

Project Description

Companies in various industries aim to optimize inventory levels for several reasons. The big question is however: what is optimal? In this research, the student will elaborate on this question by benchmarking the performance of companies based on high-level inventory metrics that are readily available (e.g. working capital, net revenue, etc.).

To stay competitive, inventory levels cannot be too high (risk of being expensive) but also not too low (risk of losing customers). A comparison to competitors only may not be sufficient: it may also be important to know how well the company is performing compared to their supply chain partners, as having too high scores compared to your partners may indicate high supply risks.

Furthermore, the student will explore the relationship between inventory performance and their sustainability targets/performance. How do the latter influence the inventory metrics? How and when can inventories contribute to a company’s sustainability targets (or not)?

Goals of the Project

EyeOn’s goal is to develop an ‘entry product’ for C-level management (CEO, COO, etc.) in a form of inventory benchmark that can be used to compare a company’s inventory performance. For this purpose, the student builds and validates a (or two) model(s) that:

  • Can be used to compare similar companies on their inventory metrics (e.g. working capital) vs. general metrics (e.g. total revenue, net income, etc.) in a standardized and comprehensive way.
  • Describes the relationship between a firm’s inventory performance (e.g. working capital) and long term financial sustainability, i.e. effects on firms’ profitability and relationship on sustainable growth (see also goal #8 decent work & economic growth in https://sdgs.un.org/)

Deliverables

  • Developed inventory benchmark, including data collection templates, structured database with collected benchmark numbers (e.g. from company annual report or from publicly available databases), automated report-out template (graphs, assessment)
  • Master thesis
  • In-house knowledge sharing session
  • Support EyeOn colleague hosting a webinar on the topic
     

Essential Student Knowledge

  • Supply chain finance (knowledge about financial KPIs such as working capital, net revenue, etc.)
  • Inventory Management Metrics
  • Basics of financial reporting (IFRS, GAAP, etc.)
  • Effective communication with different levels of management
  • High grade on statistics is preferred

 

 More information: escf@tue.nl