Inventory Management and Working Capital Questions

Understanding inventory types such as raw materials, work in process and finished goods, and how inventory levels drive holding costs, stockout risk and working capital. Candidates should explain techniques including safety stock, reorder point, economic order quantity and just in time versus buffer stock approaches, and discuss metrics such as inventory turnover and days of inventory on hand. Interviewers look for the ability to quantify trade offs between carrying cost and service level, and to propose procurement levers such as lot sizing, vendor managed inventory, consignment or payment term changes to optimize cash flow.