Stock control, otherwise known as inventory control, is used to show how much stock you have at any one time, and how you keep track of it. It applies to every item you use to produce a product or service, from raw materials to finished goods. It covers stock at every stage of the production process, from purchase and delivery to using and re-ordering the stock. Efficient stock control allows you to have the right amount of stock in the right place at the right time. It ensures that capital is not tied up unnecessarily, and protects production if problems arise with the supply chain. You can categorise stock further, according to its value. For example, you could put items into low, medium and high value categories. If your stock levels are limited by capital, this will help you to plan expenditure on new and replacement stock. You may choose to concentrate resources on the areas of greatest value. However, low-cost items can be crucial to your production process and should not be overlooked. This paper briefly reviews some recent work aimed at inventory management and its problems and dilemmas in today´s competitive world. The study is focused especially on small and medium-sized manufacturing companies with very complex production processes. The main goal is to outline the major difficulties influencing the performance of small and medium-sized manufacturing companies in connection with the complexity of their production processes.