Revision history for RetailOptimalStock
Additions:
About RL getting out of date: You are absolutely true, but we found it is the best way to manintain stock levels. One of the primary tasks of head office is maintaining RL at its best level. Nowadays is done manually except some SQL queries run directly against the DB until we get an standard way...
Automatic update of RL will work on mature businesses where you have a constant demand. For seasonal / fashion /perishable goods it is quite different. We should be able to compute some kind of "speed of sales", taking into consideration if the goods were (or not) available for sale, more than consumption itself. More like "When we had it available, we sold X units/day" kind of measure. Obviosly for new items it must be adjusted manually.
Automatic update of RL will work on mature businesses where you have a constant demand. For seasonal / fashion /perishable goods it is quite different. We should be able to compute some kind of "speed of sales", taking into consideration if the goods were (or not) available for sale, more than consumption itself. More like "When we had it available, we sold X units/day" kind of measure. Obviosly for new items it must be adjusted manually.
Deletions:
Automatic update of RL will work on mature businesses where you have a constant demand. For seasonal / fashion /perishable goods it is quite different. We should be able to compute some kind of "speed of sales", taking into consideration if the goods were (or not available for sale, more than consumption itself. More like "When we had it available, we sold X units/day" kind of measure. Obviosly for new items it must be adjusted manually.
Additions:
<Ricard>
We use RL for everyday shipping. Shops should have a "minimum" stock, so RL fits our needs 100%. Sure for other businesses where shipping costs are higher than stocking costs, RL might not be so useful. Just a note: Stock Dispatch allows to add a % of overstock, so if there is extra QOH at warehouse can be shipped in excess of RL.
About RL geeting out of date: You are absolutely true, but we found it is the best way to manintain stock levels. One of the primary tasks of head office is maintaining RL at its best level. Nowadays is done manually except some SQl queries run directly against the DB.
Automatic update of RL will work on mature businesses where you have a constant demand. For seasonal / fashion /perishable goods it is quite different. We should be able to compute some kind of "speed of sales", taking into consideration if the goods were (or not available for sale, more than consumption itself. More like "When we had it available, we sold X units/day" kind of measure. Obviosly for new items it must be adjusted manually.
Maybe I did not understand properly but when Phil says: "It would be easy to prepare stock transfers based on reorder levels that warehouse people could pick and pack for dispatch. " I think it is already done at StockDispatch.php. That's what we do on a daily basis for every point of sale, top-up stock up to RL. Am I missing something here?
</Ricard>
We use RL for everyday shipping. Shops should have a "minimum" stock, so RL fits our needs 100%. Sure for other businesses where shipping costs are higher than stocking costs, RL might not be so useful. Just a note: Stock Dispatch allows to add a % of overstock, so if there is extra QOH at warehouse can be shipped in excess of RL.
About RL geeting out of date: You are absolutely true, but we found it is the best way to manintain stock levels. One of the primary tasks of head office is maintaining RL at its best level. Nowadays is done manually except some SQl queries run directly against the DB.
Automatic update of RL will work on mature businesses where you have a constant demand. For seasonal / fashion /perishable goods it is quite different. We should be able to compute some kind of "speed of sales", taking into consideration if the goods were (or not available for sale, more than consumption itself. More like "When we had it available, we sold X units/day" kind of measure. Obviosly for new items it must be adjusted manually.
Maybe I did not understand properly but when Phil says: "It would be easy to prepare stock transfers based on reorder levels that warehouse people could pick and pack for dispatch. " I think it is already done at StockDispatch.php. That's what we do on a daily basis for every point of sale, top-up stock up to RL. Am I missing something here?
</Ricard>
Additions:
<Phil>
These are common problems to many businesses...
Interesting you suggest using reorder levels... these can quickly get out of date. Initially they may be based on estimates of the retail location sales, but these could exceed or be significantly less. The only real data that you have is historical ... which is useful in a mature market but useless in a new market. I really don't see much substitute for manual analysis for very regular review of reorder levels.
We could write a script to update reorder levels based on history of consumption at a location. But the consumption at a location is affected by stock outs - i.e. it is impossible to consume more stock than is on hand.
It would be easy to prepare stock transfers based on reorder levels that warehouse people could pick and pack for dispatch.
I would also be interested some APECs logistics guru analysis and recommendations.
</Phil>
These are common problems to many businesses...
Interesting you suggest using reorder levels... these can quickly get out of date. Initially they may be based on estimates of the retail location sales, but these could exceed or be significantly less. The only real data that you have is historical ... which is useful in a mature market but useless in a new market. I really don't see much substitute for manual analysis for very regular review of reorder levels.
We could write a script to update reorder levels based on history of consumption at a location. But the consumption at a location is affected by stock outs - i.e. it is impossible to consume more stock than is on hand.
It would be easy to prepare stock transfers based on reorder levels that warehouse people could pick and pack for dispatch.
I would also be interested some APECs logistics guru analysis and recommendations.
</Phil>