INVENTORY MANAGEMENT WITH ABC CURVE AND MRP IN A SMALL FOOD RETAIL COMPANY

Resumo

This article presents a case study on inventory management in a small food retail company located in Espírito Santo, Brazil, which, following the Covid-19 pandemic, began to sell perishable products and consequently faced new challenges related to demand volatility, item perishability, and limited working capital. The applied research used data from the year 2024 and employed classical tools such as the ABC Curve to identify the most relevant products, and the Material Requirements Planning (MRP) system to plan and control replenishment needs. The results indicated that the integrated application of these tools enabled more accurate estimations of reorder points and Economic Order Quantity (EOQ), as well as the implementation of a more efficient purchasing policy, with the potential to reduce the average inventory volume of high-impact items by up to 40%. Despite the expected gains in operational and financial efficiency, the study recognizes limitations, such as the short historical data series and the absence of consolidated financial indicators, and suggests that future research should deepen the analysis of the economic impact of the adopted practices, including the use of predictive models and performance indicators such as inventory turnover, contribution margin, and return on invested capital.