5. Volume management

Given that not all stocks are of the same nature, there's no reason to manage them all in the same way. Obviously, a multitude of criteria come into play when deciding how to manage inventory:

• mass ;

• volume ;

• clutter ;

• the cost...

Among these, cost is a key criterion.

However, today's production management methods using just-in-time techniques have led to the emergence of other criteria, such as the "degree of commonality of items"; we'll deal with this point in a special section on the management of "shortages" (see §