Stock that nobody chose

Ask a planner why a product carries nine weeks of stock and the honest answer is often: because it did last year. Safety stock is set once, then defended by habit.

A weekly rhythm

In this demo case, a 30-minute weekly review by product family took days on hand from 71 to 46 over seven quarters, while on-time delivery held steady. The meeting has three rules: one owner per family, one number per owner, and a decision before anyone leaves the room.

• Review the ten families with the largest gap between plan and actual

• Agree one change to policy, not ten

• Check last week's change before making a new one

The point

Inventory is the sum of many small decisions. Make them visible and they get better.