For stores big and small, the constant battle to keep inventory at optimal levels is as old shopping itself.
One chain may run lean to keep inventory costs low, whereas another may be more flexible to enable it to respond to new opportunities as they arise.
And doesn't it make sense to reward everybody's favorite thief for using fewer items in a mission by letting him keep his inventory as he moves into his next challenge?
And these four finalists have some terrific ideas: putting books that have been ordered every year online instead of continuing to incur the shipping costs, to having a tool library over at NASA so that instead of buying very specialized tools over and over again for different projects, we actually keep an inventory of those tools.
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Rent the Runway uses bar codes to keep track of inventory, and can typically dry clean, pack, and ship out a dress one day after a customer returns it.
Adams also ran through the pros and cons of mobile device management software, such as Mobile Iron, which allow businesses to keep a permanent inventory and track their registered handsets.
Sprint and Palm will need to boost the available inventory to keep sales flowing.
Adler spent three frantic years building his inventory to keep up with all the orders.
Linen Technology Tracking, a Miami-based company, recently patented a radio-frequency identification chip designed to keep real-time inventory of frequently misplaced or stolen goods.
Even media outlets are finding it difficult to keep up, with inventory for air-time shrinking as Ken Wheaton reported in Advertising Age, points out.
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Analysts say high inventory will keep a lid on prices in the coming months but these will pick up in 2013 unless policy makers roll out tougher curbs.
Nissan doesn't want to keep a lot of inventory on hand, so it often gives suppliers as little as 90 minutes' notice of which vehicles will be coming down the line.
One wildly successful example is Gemvara where Matt Lauzon realized he did not need to keep precious stones in inventory but, instead, to show extremely realistic and tantalizing gem settings, with the software support that enables customers to design their jewelry.
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But production wasn't interrupted, because Flex keeps two weeks of Xbox parts inventory at or near its Guadalajara site, and parts suppliers nearby keep another two to four weeks of inventory on hand.
We believe that our competitors are now selling smaller diameter cores at cash cost in order to reduce inventory or to keep utilization rates high.
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But how can they keep pace with demand and properly manage inventory to truly capitalize on this spending spree?
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By contrast, streamlined computer manufacturers like Dell Computer try to keep only about ten days' worth of inventory on hand.
The company also has installed a new inventory management software to help individual stores keep better track of prices.
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But it is unclear how much more ad inventory Google can sell, particularly if rates keep rising.
My plan says, let's give a tax cut to small businesses to hire the long-term unemployed and our veterans, and make sure that they've got a little more money to keep their doors open, expand their payroll, expand their inventory, get this economy moving.
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