CASE STUDY
How Milsons Optimized Working Capital with Inventory Analytics
AT A GLANCE
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Client: Milsons
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Industry: Manufacturing & Distribution
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Location: National Operations
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Solution: Working Capital & Inventory Optimization
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Key Impact: 12% inventory reduction, 18% stock turn improvement
Background
Milsons operates as a national distributor of industrial components, managing thousands of SKUs across multiple warehouse locations throughout Australia. The company serves diverse industries including construction, manufacturing, and infrastructure development, each with unique demand patterns and service level requirements.
As market competition intensified and customer expectations for immediate availability increased, Milsons recognized that optimizing working capital while maintaining service levels was critical for sustainable growth and profitability.
The Challenge
Milsons struggled with limited visibility into inventory performance across their extensive SKU portfolio. Critical inventory, cost of goods sold, and sales data resided in disconnected MYOB modules, preventing integrated analysis of working capital efficiency. This fragmentation made it impossible to answer fundamental questions about inventory optimization.
Leadership lacked insight into which stock groups were over-turning or under-turning relative to their contribution to profitability. The relationship between average inventory trends, COGS, and gross margins remained opaque, preventing strategic inventory investment decisions. Without visibility into product lines tying up excess capital without contributing proportionally to profitability, the company couldn't optimize their inventory mix.
Finance and supply chain teams depended on error-prone spreadsheets that couldn't accurately reconcile inventory and COGS timelines. Month-end analysis was slow, manual, and often produced conflicting results depending on the methodology used. This unreliable reporting foundation made it impossible to implement systematic inventory optimization strategies or measure the impact of operational changes.
The Solution
GrowthBI developed a Power BI Inventory Performance Dashboard that connected directly to MYOB via ODATA feeds, creating real-time visibility into inventory metrics. The solution leveraged Generic Enquiries within MYOB to expose key datasets—Inventory Balances, COGS Transactions, and Sales History—through ODATA endpoints accessible to Power BI.
This architecture eliminated manual exports and intermediate databases, ensuring live connections with automated data refresh. The dashboard provided comprehensive inventory analytics including Stock Turn and GMROI calculations by product category, enabling data-driven inventory decisions.
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Stock Turn & GMROI Report: Real-time calculation of turnover ratios, gross-margin return on investment, and average inventory by stock group
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Trend Analytics: Monthly tracking of average inventory, COGS, and gross margin movements to reveal seasonal patterns and identify slow-moving items
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Profitability Segmentation: Classification of stock groups as High Turn/High Margin versus Low Turn/Low Margin to guide purchasing decisions
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Warehouse-Level Analysis: Regional drill-downs enabling location-specific inventory optimization
Results
The Inventory Performance Dashboard delivered immediate improvements in working capital efficiency and operational decision-making. Average inventory holdings decreased by 12%, releasing substantial working capital for strategic investments. Stock turn improved by 18%, enabling faster replenishment cycles and reducing stockout incidents.
The automated reporting eliminated over 20 hours monthly of manual Excel consolidation for warehouse teams, while providing superior accuracy and timeliness in inventory insights.
Key performance outcomes included:
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12% reduction in average inventory holding levels
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Significant working capital released for strategic initiatives
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18% improvement in stock turn ratios
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5 days saved in manual reporting
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Real-time visibility into inventory performance metrics
The solution revealed that certain high-volume SKUs were consuming disproportionate working capital relative to their margin contribution. This insight enabled strategic inventory rebalancing that improved both cash flow and profitability without impacting customer service levels.
Looking Forward
Milsons plans to expand their analytics capabilities to include demand forecasting and supplier performance metrics. The company is exploring integration with customer ordering patterns to further optimize inventory levels based on predictive analytics rather than historical averages.
Want to see the technical details behind this implementation? Read our technical deep-dive to learn how we connected MYOB to Power BI using ODATA feeds and Generic Enquiries.