Aberdeen Group's and many other studies into managing inventory at manufacturers show that the most important keys to freeing up working capital when optimising inventory management include:

1. reduce on-hand inventory whilst ensuring customer service levels - complete and on-time order delivery to customers - remain high, 96% is good
2. minimise the cash conversion cycle, 50+ is best-in-class
3. maximise finished goods inventory turn, 15+ is very good
4. focus on the accuracy of inventory forecasting at the product level in critical nodes in the supply chain, best in class is 87%
5. tie inventory and financial metrics together, and, in particular, segment finished goods inventory forecasting based on financial performance.