Configuring replenishment schedule

The replenishment schedule describes the rhythm of your purchases. In theory, once a particular inventory item goes one unit below its safe level, you should immediately start supplying one extra unit to your warehouse to fill the gap. In practice, it is impossible for many reasons: minimal order quantities, time to get a quotation, and, most importantly, the capacity of purchase officers responsible for orders.

Here comes the replenishment cycle. It defines the period in days with which you review the stock level of a particular inventory item. The replenishment cycle applies to items and not to the process itself. For example, if you sell toys and the replenishment cycle is set to 7 days, it does not mean you’re restocking only once per week; instead, you might restock dolls on Mondays, trains on Tuesdays, board games on Wednesdays, etc. What’s important is that every item gets attention at least once a week.

If it sounds complicated, consider an alternative meaning: “For how many days of extra in-stock above the minimal safe level (optimal min) you want to purchase when restocking a particular inventory item.”

The replenishment cycle value directly affects Stock Roll’s optimal max quantity computation. Together with the optimal minimum, they define the quantities recommended to be replenished.