Apple turns over its inventory every five days

A new report by technology research firm Gartner highlights just how smoothly Apple manages its inventories.

The analysts studied the supply chain management of manufacturing, retail and distribution companies in the Fortune Global 500 with revenue over $10 billion.

They estimate that Apple goes through its inventory 74.1 times a year, or every five days.

This shows that despite selling hundreds of millions of pieces of computer hardware every year, the technology giant barely stockpiles its goods.

For comparison, competitor Dell goes through its inventory every 10 days, or 35.6 times a year, while Samsung takes 21 days, going through its inventories 17.1 times a year.

The only company to achieve higher inventory turnover was McDonald’s (every 2.5 days), and they’re in the food business.

The report noted: “although results vary by industry, typical manufacturing companies may have 6-8 inventory turns per year. High volume/low margin companies (like grocery stores) may have 12 or more inventory turns per year or more.”

When it comes to inventory management, the world’s leading companies are leaving their competitors in the dust.