Don't Let Inventory Guesswork Cost You

They were ordering 4 to 6 weeks early on every single PO. That's $42K trapped inventory that didn't need to be there yet. Gut feel meant always ordering early. Better safe than sorry. Wrong. Safe was costing them $42K in cash they couldn't use. So here's what was happening. Every time they thought a product might run low, they'd fire off a PO. No formula, no calculation, just feeling, and that feeling was always early. So inventory arrived weeks before they needed it, sitting on shelves, eating storage fees, tying up cash, and we implemented one simple formula: daily sales rate times lead time plus safety stock. That's it. That tells you exactly when to reorder. Not a day early, not a day late, Same product, same supplier, same lead time, just ordered at the right time. $42K freed. Not because they bought less, because they bought smarter. Now look at your last PO. When did you place it? Was it based on formula or a gut feel? Be honest. $42K freed by ordering at the right time, formula, overfilling every time.