Here's how you can transform your inventory management process to be proactive, not reactive. 1. Intensified Focus on Inventory Levels A critical component of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the inventory optimization processes is its ability to deliver instant alerts on low inventory, delay in delivery, and incidents as they occur. These automated inventory alerts play a huge role in improving the speed of order shipments and increasing the efficiency of business operations. Other benefits include reduced stock waste, improved collaboration, and visibility of stock information across departments, monitorization of pricing trends and price increases, inventory turnover, velocity, and more. 2. Slash Costs As of June 2019, U.S. retailers are sitting on approximately $1.36 of inventory for every S1 in sales. In fear of being out of stock when a customer orders it, retailers, or overstocking inventory, resulting in even more costs to keep and manage the extra stock. On the flip slide, 34% of businesses ship late because they sell products that are not actually in stock. By reducing stock-outs and overstocks, retailers could lower their overall inventory costs by a minimum of 10 percent. In addition to increased visibility and accuracy of inventory management, Al has the ability to analyze the performance of suppliers, products, and employees which adds to potential cost savings. By proactively identifying underperforming areas of the supply chain, including unsold products, retailers can easily analyze supply chain performance for improved decision making and tighter operation. 3. Keeping Customers Top of Mind 30% of supply chain leaders highlighted the need to respond to customer mandates for faster, more accurate, and unique fulfillment as a top business priority moving forward. The same study found 28% of those surveyed see the ability to blend data from multiple systems for complete supply chain visibility as a key benefit of an advanced analytics initiative. This builds on the initiative to access data whenever and wherever you need it with the ability to derive insights as quickly as possible. Not only are supply chain leaders wanting to stay connected and transparent with customers, but the customer experience is now dependent on the supply chain's relationship and processes to access information from Big Data - another factor that Al streamlines with automation and speed. Source: http://www.supplychain247.com/article/3 ways to optimize_inventory_with_artificial_intelligence Answer ALL the questions in this section. Question 1 (10 Marks) In the context of the case study, critically discuss the cost of inventory and explain how an organisation can transform its inventory management process to be proactive. Use relevant examples to justify your discussion