Inventory Control Practices in Manufacturing Firms Available to Purchase

Inventory control practices in medium‐sized midwestern manufacturing firms (75 to 500 employees) were investigated. Items concerning inventory model used, shortages, number of suppliers and quality assurance were included in the survey. The total number of respondents was 212 (a 54 percent response rate). Our findings identify MRP as a widely used model at present, and MRP and JIT as the inventory models of choice for the future. These findings dictate appropriate educational emphasison MRP and JIT inventory models for both students and practitioners.