Case Study: Leading Consumer Goods Manufacturer reduces inventory carrying costs with Mu Sigma

Reduced raw material and packaging inventory levels for a leading consumer goods manufacturer

Leading Consumer Goods Manufacturer, one of the world’s largest consumer goods manufacturers with operations in 63 countries, wanted to reduce supply chain inventory carrying costs by 20% over five years. Mu Sigma partnered with the company’s Manufacturing Excellence Group to analyze drivers of excess Finished Goods, Raw Material, and Packaging Material inventory across factories and distribution centers.

Mu Sigma built a root-cause analysis and continuous improvement framework using classification, hypothesis testing, and multivariate regression to quantify factors such as lead time variance, lot sizes, seasonality, and stock-out patterns. The solution helped factory managers identify abnormal inventory levels, improve planning decisions, and enforce better stocking practices, leading to lower inventory levels and improved inventory carrying costs across pilot product categories.