Low stock alert automation services

How the service runs

1. 01

   Lead times

   Measured from past order and delivery dates per supplier.

   Output: Real lead times

2. 02

   Sales history

   Cleaned to exclude out-of-stock days and one-off spikes.

   Output: Reliable sales rates

3. 03

   Thresholds

   Set by product group with buyers.

   Output: Agreed rules

4. 04

   Back-test

   Rules run against past months' stock-outs.

   Output: Evidence they work

5. 05

   Daily list

   Switched on and reviewed with buyers.

   Output: Trusted alerts

Measuring real lead times

Quoted lead times can be shorter than reality. Look at past purchase orders and the dates stock actually arrived, per supplier and sometimes per product, and record the typical time and the variation. A supplier that usually delivers in two weeks but sometimes takes four needs a larger margin than one that always delivers in three. Include the time it takes you to place an order after the alert, too.

Recheck lead times every few months, and after any supplier change.

Thresholds by product group

Testing against past stock-outs

Before trusting the rules, run them over the past few months of stock and sales and check two things: would they have warned early enough to prevent the stock-outs that actually happened, and how many alerts would they have produced on items that were fine. Adjust margins until the balance suits your buyers. This turns threshold-setting from guesswork into a measured decision.

Example: alerts that came too late

What you should receive

Warning signs in a proposal

• One threshold for everything

  Fast sellers still run out; slow ones alert constantly.

• Quoted lead times used unchecked

  Alerts arrive after it is too late to reorder.

• No back-test

  Nobody knows whether the rules would have helped.

• Stock on order ignored

  Buyers chase items already ordered.

Working with buyers

Buyers know things the data does not: a supplier closing for a holiday, a product being replaced, a promotion next month. Give them a simple way to add notes, adjust a product's group or snooze an alert with a reason, and review these adjustments monthly. The aim is a list buyers rely on, not one they work around.

Agree who covers the list when the buyer is away.

From alert to purchase order

Where your tools support it, let buyers turn alerts into draft purchase orders with suggested quantities, respecting supplier minimums and pack sizes. Buyers check and send; the order then counts as stock on order in the next calculation.

The monthly review

Each month, list the items that still ran out and those that alerted without need, and adjust their group or margin. Over a few months the list settles into one buyers can act on with little second-guessing.