ABC Analysis: Inventory Classification by Annual Usage Value

ABC Analysis is a demand-value segmentation technique that divides inventory items into three classes — A, B, and C — based on their annual usage value (unit cost multiplied by annual demand). Rooted in the Pareto principle and codified for inventory management by Silver, Pyke, and Peterson (1998), it guides managers to concentrate control resources on the small fraction of items that drive the vast majority of total inventory spend.