What does inventory management mean?
Inventory management is the supervision of non-capitalized assets (inventory) and stock items.
A component of supply chain management, inventory management supervises the flow of goods from manufacturers to warehouses and from these facilities to point of sale. A key function of inventory management is to keep a detailed record of each new or returned product as it enters or leaves a warehouse or point of sale.

Breaking down inventory management
Successful inventory management involves creating a purchasing plan that will ensure that items are available when they are needed (but that neither too much nor too little is purchased) and keeping track of existing inventory and its use. Two common inventory-management strategies are the just-in-time method, where companies plan to receive items as they are needed rather than maintaining high inventory levels, and materials requirement planning, which schedules material deliveries based on sales forecasts.

Some aspects of inventory
CYCLE STOCK
Cycle stock is the average amount of inventory a business needs to meet customer demand between the times it orders more inventory from suppliers. A company goes through its cycle stock inventory as it sells products and restocks inventory. It is required in order to meet demand under conditions of certainty ; that is, when the firm can predict demand and replenishment times(lead times). Cycle inventory is also known as “normal inventory” or “batching economies”. Cycle stock normally arises from three sources: acquisition, production and transportation. Scale economies are often associated with all three, which can result in the accumulation of stock that will not be used or sold immediately which means there will be cycle stock or inventory that will be used up or sold over some period of time.

SAFETY STOCK
Safety stock is an