Turn a supply chain opinion into a number your manager will sign
Reorder points, carrying cost, supplier comparisons and software shortlists, worked through with your own figures rather than a vendor's. This is an independent US resource — we sell no software and represent no supplier.
Which decision is in front of you?
Six routes through the same subject
Pick the one that matches the decision in front of you.
The numbers that matter
The handful of figures every inventory decision actually rests on.
Read the fundamentals →Reorder points, worked through
Demand during lead time, safety stock, and where the formula breaks down.
Read the guide →What carrying cost hides
The true annual cost of the inventory sitting in your warehouse right now.
Read the guide →Score suppliers, don't just rank them
A weighted scorecard that survives a manager asking 'why this one?'
Build a scorecard →Resilience without excess caution
Dual sourcing and nearshoring, and when each one actually pays for itself.
Read the guide →Choosing software without a sales pitch
How to shortlist supply chain and procurement software on your requirements, not a demo.
Read the guide →Run the numbers on your own decision
Reorder points, carrying cost, a weighted supplier comparison, and a readiness checklist — all client-side, nothing you enter leaves your browser.
Reorder Point & Safety Stock
Work out when to reorder and how much safety stock to hold, using the max-demand method on your own figures.
Assumptions this uses
- Uses the max-demand method: safety stock is sized for the worst peak demand and peak lead time you've actually observed, not a statistical service-level target.
- Demand and lead time are treated as independent inputs you supply from your own history.
- The reorder point is a trigger quantity, not a fixed order quantity — how much to order each time is a separate decision.
Limitations: it sizes safety stock for the worst case you've already seen, not for a formal statistical probability of stockout. If your business is growing, a new peak could exceed your historical worst case, so this figure should be recalculated regularly rather than set once.
Runs entirely in your browser.
A scorecard doesn't remove judgment, it documents it
Weighting price, lead time, quality and risk explicitly doesn't make a supplier decision objective — it makes the judgment visible and repeatable. Publish the weights next to the recommendation, and be ready to explain why they're weighted the way they are. That's usually what a manager is actually asking for when they ask you to 'justify' a supplier choice.
Ask about a formula, a scorecard weighting or a resilience trade-off
Five free replies a day. It works through your own figures and structures comparisons — it does not model your specific business or recommend a vendor by name.
Send us the decision you're trying to make defensible
A reorder point that doesn't feel right, a supplier comparison you want a second opinion on, or a software shortlist you want stress-tested. The more specific the numbers, the more useful the answer.
This isn't a sales call. We represent no software vendor and no supplier — where a relevant partner category can help, we'll say which and why, and you decide whether to reach out.
Partner link — we may be paid a fee at no cost to you. How we make money.
Need a live quote or a demo, not arithmetic
Once you know what you're solving for, a category partner can give you real pricing faster than we can estimate it.
See software options →Reference material and equipment, not a sales pitch
Four things procurement and warehouse teams actually buy. Not a ranking, and not the point of this site — the guides above are.
How we make money: some links here are partner or affiliate links and we may be paid a fee at no cost to you. It never changes what we write or how options are ordered — see our disclosure and methodology.
Supply chain reference books
Standard texts on inventory theory and procurement, written to teach rather than to sell a platform.
Check price →Barcode scanners
The cheapest fix for cycle counts that never reconcile with the system.
Check price →Label printers
Shipping and bin labels stop being a bottleneck the day a team owns one outright.
Check price →Warehouse tally sheets
A paper backstop for the day the WMS is down and counts still have to happen.
Check price →The Supply Chain Decision & Inventory Workbook
Everything on this site compressed into a workbook: the reorder point and safety stock formula worked step by step, the carrying cost breakdown, a blank weighted supplier scorecard, and the business-case structure that tends to get funded.
Where the numbers turn into a real decision
This site sells no software and represents no supplier. These are the categories where a real quote or a real course replaces our arithmetic. Partner links are labelled; nothing here is a ranking.
How we make money: some links here are partner or affiliate links and we may be paid a fee at no cost to you. It never changes what we write or how options are ordered — see our disclosure and methodology.
Supply chain certification (APICS/ASCM CSCP)
A recognized credential like CSCP formalizes practical planning and procurement knowledge into something portable across employers. Worth it for a career step, not a requirement to do the job well.
Explore certification options →Supply Chain & Procurement FAQ
No hedging, no upsell — where the honest answer depends on your industry or scale, we say what it depends on.
What's the difference between reorder point and safety stock?
Reorder point is the inventory level that triggers a new order — it's demand during your lead time plus safety stock. Safety stock is the buffer inside that number, sized for demand or lead time coming in worse than average. Confusing the two is the most common inventory-math mistake we see.
How do I calculate safety stock without a statistics background?
The simplest usable method is the max-demand method: safety stock equals (peak demand × peak lead time) minus (average demand × average lead time). It's less precise than a service-level formula using standard deviations, but it's transparent and defensible, which matters more for most small and mid-size operations.
What does inventory carrying cost actually include?
Capital cost (what that money would otherwise earn or what it costs to borrow), storage and handling, and risk costs — shrinkage, obsolescence, damage and insurance. Add them as percentages of average inventory value; the total typically lands between 20% and 30% a year, though it varies a lot by category.
Is a lower price always the right supplier choice?
No — and treating it as if it is the mistake a scorecard is meant to catch. A weighted scorecard across price, lead time, quality and risk often shows that the cheaper supplier's total cost of ownership is higher once late deliveries or quality issues are priced in.
How many suppliers should I have for a critical component?
There's no universal number, but single-sourcing a critical input carries concentration risk that only shows up when that supplier has a problem. Dual sourcing costs more per unit in normal times and less per unit the one time it matters — the guide on resilience walks through how to size that trade-off.
What's the real difference between nearshoring and offshoring?
Offshoring optimizes primarily for unit cost, accepting longer lead times and more exposure to shipping disruption. Nearshoring trades some unit-cost advantage for shorter lead times, easier quality oversight and lower disruption risk. Neither is categorically better — it depends on your product's cost sensitivity versus its disruption sensitivity.