Resources
Inventory optimization and supply resilience, without the sales pitch.
Written for the people who place purchase orders at distributors and importers. Every article cites its sources and says what it does not know.
What is inventory optimization for distributors?
Inventory optimization for distributors explained: what it decides, how it differs from forecasting and reorder points, and what evidence a distributor should demand before changing how it orders.
Safety stock versus inventory optimization
The classic safety stock formula, where it breaks for distributors with variable suppliers, and how scenario-based inventory optimization sizes protection per SKU, customer and supply lane.
How distributors should plan inventory during supply disruptions
A practical sequence for distributors when a port, supplier or lane fails: reposition, reallocate by customer priority, use approved alternatives, and let protection fall again when the risk passes.
Multi-echelon inventory optimization, explained
What multi-echelon inventory optimization (MEIO) means for a distributor with a central warehouse and branches, the guaranteed-service model behind most tools, and where network optimization differs.
How supplier fill rate and lead-time variability affect inventory
Why a supplier that ships 85% of what you ordered, three weeks late on occasion, needs more protection than its average suggests, and how to measure it from your own receipts without fabricating data.
How to reduce inventory without hurting service levels
Where distributors can cut working capital safely: SKUs with short, reliable replenishment and alternatives, and where they cannot: long lanes, correlated suppliers and strategic customers.
LEAN, PROTECT, ALLOCATE, RECOVER: a resilience planning framework
A four-state framework for supply planning under uncertainty: stay lean while it is safe, buy protection when uncertainty becomes expensive, allocate by customer priority in scarcity, and recover back to lean.
Want to see these ideas on your own history? See how ZAAD works or open a workspace.