Inventory control is the supervision of supply, storage and accessibility of items in order to ensure an adequate supply without excessive oversupply.

It can also be referred as internal control - an accounting procedure or system designed to promote efficiency or assure the implementation of a policy or safeguard assets or avoid fraud and error etc.

Inventory control may refer to:

• In economics, the inventory control problem
  Inventory control problem
  The inventory control problem is the problem faced by a firm that must decide how much to order in each time period to meet demand for its products. The problem can be modeled using mathematical techniques of optimal control, dynamic programming and network optimization. The study of such models...
  
  , which aims to reduce overhead cost without hurting sales
• In the field of loss prevention
  Loss prevention
  Retail loss prevention is a form of private investigation into larceny or theft. The focus of such investigations generally includes shoplifting, package pilferage, embezzlement, credit fraud, and check fraud...
  
  , systems designed to introduce technical barriers to shoplifting
  Shoplifting
  Shoplifting is theft of goods from a retail establishment. It is one of the most common property crimes dealt with by police and courts....
  
  

It answers the 3 basic questions of any supply chain:
1. When?
2. Where?
3. How much?

See also

• Inventory
  Inventory
  Inventory means a list compiled for some formal purpose, such as the details of an estate going to probate, or the contents of a house let furnished. This remains the prime meaning in British English...
  
  
• Inventory control system
  Inventory control system
  An inventory control system is a process for managing and locating objects or materials. In common usage, the term may also refer to just the software components......
  
  
• Inventory management software
  Inventory management software
  Inventory management software is a computer-based system for tracking product levels, orders, sales and deliveries. It can also be used in the manufacturing industry to create a work order, bill of materials and other production-related documents. Companies use inventory management software to...
  
  
• Operations management
  Operations management
  Operations management is an area of management concerned with overseeing, designing, and redesigning business operations in the production of goods and/or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as little resources as needed, and...
  
  
• Supply chain management
  Supply chain management
  Supply chain management is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers...
  
  
• Warehouse management system
  Warehouse management system
  A warehouse management system, or WMS, is a key part of the supply chain and primarily aims to control the movement and storage of materials within a warehouse and process the associated transactions, including shipping, receiving, putaway and picking...