"If you look at the problems that manufacturers say are their top challenges, a lot of them relate to competitive pressure, the need to respond [to their customers] faster, and to achieve top-line sales goals," Roland Berger's Geissbauer said. "Things like that actually lend themselves to e-business effects." Manufacturers already using the Internet see annual cost savings of 6 percent across the value chain, from procurement to Web-based supply chain management and after-sales service, said Geissbauer. It may be possible to cut costs by as much as 8 percent to 10 percent, he said.
In conclusion, when it comes to inventory control the Internet plays an innovative and productive part in the factory floor of an organization. It allows the factory floor to have real time information of what's happening upstream and downstream the supply chain that will help factory floor inventory managers to maintain the proper level of inventory; thus minimizing inventory related costs.
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