SKUs are discussed, critiqued, fabricated and, innocently enough, they create a plethora of operating problems throughout the supply chain in the beverage industry, including processing and distribution. A good starting point for reviewing the SKU issue is to question why this universally used identification acronym is so important and where do problems in the supply chain exist?
Research dating back to the 1970s indicates that many interpretations and conflicts arose when it came to SKUs and codes used to identify products. The practice of monitoring inventories, tracking sales volumes and developing production schedules using names and sizes of packages became a time-consuming and expensive task in most manufacturing facilities.