Ever looked at your warehouse and thought, how can we have so much stock and still miss the things we need? You're not alone. Many companies are trapped in a paradox: too much inventory and still constant shortages. Planners get frustrated, production halts, and customers walk away.
The silent culprit? A sneaky force in your supply chain: Bi-modal inventory distribution.
What Is Bi-modal Inventory Distribution?
It may sound technical, but it's actually pretty simple. Your stock levels are being pulled in two directions. On one end, you’re overstocked with the wrong items. On the other, you're constantly running short of the right ones.
The result? Your inventory curve doesn’t look like a nice steady hill it's more like a bumpy two-peak mountain. And what you need is always in the wrong pile.
The Effects: High Inventory, Low Availability
This uneven distribution creates a whole range of issues:
- Your cash is tied up in slow-moving items.
- Production is waiting on parts that aren’t there.
- Emergency orders and last-minute changes become the norm.
- Customer service is constantly under pressure.
And all the while? It looks like you have enough stock just never the right stuff.
So What’s Causing This?
It all comes down to one word: variation. Variation in demand, lead times, production delays, quality issues – real life rarely follows a neat schedule. Yet most planning systems pretend everything is predictable.
Traditional planning tools like MRP just aren’t built to handle this. They assume every order is on time, every forecast is accurate, and every product has a fixed lead time. You can guess what happens next: chaos.
Why MRP Fails to Deliver on Its Promise
MRP (Material Requirements Planning) was built for a simpler time. Its promise sounded great: just enough inventory, just in time. But reality doesn’t play along.
MRP calculates what you need and when, based on due dates and lead times. But as soon as reality strays from the plan – and it always does – you get chain reactions. A small supplier hiccup can snowball into major disruption weeks later.
Worst of all? MRP responds to calculated demand, not real signals from the market. It works well on paper, but not in a world where demand, supply, and operations shift constantly.
Enter the Bullwhip Effect
As if that’s not enough, the Bullwhip Effect makes things even worse. Small changes in customer demand become massive swings the further you go up the supply chain. You end up ordering way too much or not nearly enough. It amplifies the Bi-modal effect and makes the system even more unstable.
How DDMRP Solves the Problem
Instead of guessing what you'll need, DDMRP focuses on what’s really happening. Strategic buffers absorb variation and trigger action based on actual demand.
DDMRP uses visual signals – think green, yellow, red – to show where inventory needs attention. It keeps you from overreacting or understocking. The system adapts in real-time, giving your team the flexibility they need to stay in control.
The result: lower inventory, better service levels, and a planning process that doesn’t feel like firefighting.
Why Vincent Kuiper and WA-Solutions Are the Perfect Team for This
DDMRP isn’t magic – it works when done right. That’s where we come in. At Visie Partners and WA-Solutions, we know what it takes to make this a success.
I'm Vincent Kuiper – engineer, supply chain expert, and proud DDMRP nerd. I love turning complex problems into clear solutions that companies can actually use. WA-Solutions brings the hands-on implementation power. We bring the knowledge, the training, and the coaching.
Together, we help build supply chains that are fit for the real world.
Ready to Finally Get Control of Your Inventory?
Stop fighting fires. Start building a system that works.
Curious how this would work in your business? Call me, email me, or drop me a message on LinkedIn. Let’s make it happen.