New, commercially available supply chain planning technology is an ever-expanding market. This includes Right Sized Inventory’s (RSI) predictive analytics model for item-by-item inventory optimization. Is RSI right for you? How do you ‘try before you buy’?

Gartner’s succinct guide, “Piloting Supply Chain Technology,” presents five progressively complex, expensive, time-intensive pilot models concisely outlined in this matrix:

Which Gartner model represents a typical RSI pilot? To assess this, let’s summarize what RSI’s solution is:

• Focused inventory optimization, item-by-item, location-by-location

• Optimization =  (1) the minimum inventory level that (2) achieves target service level (3) in a service-level cycle (4) at the desired confidence level and (5) without expediting

• True predictive analytics: a correct, complete probabilistic supply chain simulation using patented methodology and not an algorithm

• Enhances other supply-chain solutions – doesn’t compete with or replace

• SaaS, not on-site, no RSI “boots on the ground”

• Learning curve of hours, not days/weeks/months

• Uses existing data easily queried and exported from ERP or other inventory-planning system

• Fundamental RSI results – one or two values – can be implemented and start yielding optimization benefits immediately: no internal process changes, supplier negotiations, etc.

• Fundamental RSI output/export is a simple automatable input/import to existing inventory-planning system

• Full what-if capability

We can illustrate a typical RSI supply-chain technology pilot – quicker and easier than any in the Gartner matrix – like this: