Lesson Plan

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Lesson Plan
Grade: Date: 25/02/2026
Subject: Business
Lesson Topic: the purpose of inventory within a business, including raw materials, work in progress and finished products
Learning Objective/s:
  • Describe the three main types of inventory (raw materials, work‑in‑progress, finished goods).
  • Explain why businesses hold inventory and the benefits it provides.
  • Analyse the various costs associated with holding inventory.
  • Calculate and interpret basic inventory management ratios (turnover, DIO, holding‑cost %).
  • Evaluate inventory control techniques such as JIT, EOQ and ABC analysis.
Materials Needed:
  • Projector and screen
  • Whiteboard and markers
  • Printed handouts of inventory tables
  • Calculator or spreadsheet software
  • Sample product/barcode images
  • Sticky notes for group activity
 Introduction:
Begin with a short video clip showing a factory shutdown due to a stock‑out, then ask students to recall how production lines depend on material flow. Link this to the previous lesson on production planning and state that today they will identify why inventory is held and how it can be managed effectively. Success criteria: students will be able to name inventory types, list benefits and costs, and apply simple ratios and control techniques.
Lesson Structure:
  1. Do‑Now (5'): Quick quiz on inventory terminology from the previous lesson.
  2. Mini‑lecture (15'): Explain purpose of inventory, types (raw, WIP, finished) and benefits.
  3. Group activity (15'): Using sticky notes, classify a set of sample items into the three inventory types and discuss reasons for holding each.
  4. Ratio demonstration (10'): Show how to calculate Inventory Turnover, DIO and Holding‑Cost % using a spreadsheet.
  5. Technique discussion (10'): Brief overview of JIT, EOQ, ABC analysis and safety stock with real‑world examples.
  6. Exit ticket (5'): Students write one benefit and one cost of inventory and one technique they would recommend for a small manufacturing firm.
Conclusion:
Summarise the key reasons businesses hold inventory, the trade‑offs between benefits and costs, and how ratios and control techniques help balance them. Collect exit tickets as a retrieval check and assign homework: research a local company’s inventory strategy and prepare a short paragraph describing which technique they appear to use and why.