ABC analysis
Benefit
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Sorts and classifies customers, products, services, suppliers, resources or tasks according to various applicable evaluation criteria.
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Provides a quick and stable overview and provides reference points for in-depth analyses.
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Identifies the most profitable products, services and customers, the most costly processes, the most capital-intensive purchased parts or the most time-consuming tasks.
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Helps to prioritize the use of measures and resources.
Applications
The ABC analysis can be used to sort customers, products, suppliers, operating resources or tasks according to various applicable evaluation criteria. It is an easy-to-understand tool that can be used to ensure the efficient use of company resources. To do this, it is necessary to focus all efforts on what is essential and promising. This chapter shows the possible applications of ABC analysis and draws attention to the correct initial question, from which the object of investigation and the evaluation criterion are determined. The reader is given a list of which objects of investigation can be analyzed with an ABC analysis and what the corresponding criteria are. On the basis of an example, it is shown in detail how a sorting according to ABC is carried out and interpreted.