Book excerpt: Inventory Management in Multi-Echelon Networks presents methods to plan inventory in distribution networks. By holistically looking at the supply chain, it shows how safety stocks across all echelons can be optimized if inventory of all levels is taken into consideration. The gap between the existence of advanced inventory planning methods and their low penetration in the industry was the motivation for this book. Christopher Grob develops essential algorithms that companies can use for network inventory planning and highlights achievable implementation benefits. The work of the author was inspired by the needs of an after sales supply chain of a large automotive company. This company supplies customers all over the world with spare parts and operates a distribution network with more than 100 warehouses. This supply chain faces two particular challenges: demand is highly uncertain and customers expect a high service level. About the Author Christopher Grob works in after sales supply chain management at a major German automotive company. He is responsible for the functional development of inventory planning systems for the spare parts business. He is an expert in the field of inventory management.