Why the most effective SKU cleanups start with a cross-functional team—not just a spreadsheet.
In glass, ceramics, and refractories distribution, product sprawl is more than an inventory issue—it’s a cross-functional blind spot. Sales teams want to meet every customer request. Ops teams want to streamline picking, stocking, and replenishment. When these priorities clash, the result is bloated catalogs, rising carrying costs, and service headaches.
Enter the SKU rationalization task force.
A rationalization task force is a structured, cross-departmental team tasked with reviewing, consolidating, and optimizing your active SKU portfolio. While many distributors try to tackle rationalization in isolated silos—usually inside purchasing or finance—the most sustainable results come when sales and operations collaborate from day one.
Why You Need Cross-Functional Input
SKU-level decisions affect every node of your business:
Sales owns customer relationships and knows the “why” behind oddball items.
Ops sees which SKUs clog up receiving bays or create cycle count errors.
Procurement understands MOQs, supplier lead times, and freight cost structures.
Finance sees which SKUs eat up working capital with no ROI.
For example, a legacy ceramic component might still be stocked because one customer in Ontario orders it every 9 months. Sales might argue for its retention due to relationship value. But Ops may highlight the $14,000 in storage costs over two years. With all perspectives in the room, decisions become strategic—not political.
Structuring the Task Force
Successful teams usually include:
A SKU analyst or data manager to compile product velocity, margin, and demand spread
A sales leader who can validate use cases and customer impact
An operations manager to flag warehouse inefficiencies tied to SKUs
A category manager or buyer to assess sourcing realities and vendor contracts
Optionally, a CFO or controller to track financial metrics and cash tied in inventory
Set a recurring cadence—monthly or biweekly—and scope each session by product category (e.g., borosilicate sheet glass one week, castable refractories the next).
Establish Evaluation Criteria
Don’t make SKU calls based on gut feel. Use agreed-upon data points, like:
Annual turns
Gross margin return on inventory (GMROI)
Customer count per SKU
Pick error frequency
Supplier MOQ or lead time complexity
Also, build a scoring rubric so everyone’s looking through the same lens. A SKU that moves once a year but enables a $250K account may be more valuable than one that moves monthly at low margin.
Address the ‘What If’ Scenarios
Resistance will come. Sales may worry: “What if a client needs that SKU again?” The answer is usually a make-to-order path, backed by clear communication and vendor alignment.
Ops may ask: “How do we physically remove SKUs?” That’s where WMS tagging and sunset dates come in. Set a firm SKU retirement process, but allow a buffer for exceptions.
:
Building a rationalization task force is less about cutting products and more about connecting dots. When sales and ops work together with shared data and defined rules, distributors gain cleaner catalogs, tighter inventory, and faster fulfillment. It’s not just cleanup—it’s alignment, and it pays dividends in margin, morale, and customer experience.
