USE CASE
Stock Replenishment and Shortage Detection
The team reviews minimum levels, open orders, and supplier lead times to spot shortages before operations are affected.
In brief. This use case consists of assessing how to: monitor inventory, calculate needs with rules, flag risks, and prepare purchase requests.
How it works today
The team reviews minimum levels, open orders, and supplier lead times to spot shortages before operations are affected.
Where time is lost
A minimum level meets a delayed delivery when there is little time left to react.
What can be automated
Monitor inventory, calculate needs with rules, flag risks, and prepare purchase requests.
How a workflow could work
A practical flow takes inputs from the relevant sources, checks them against agreed rules, performs routine actions, and sends uncertain cases to a person.
What still needs a person
Purchasing sets priorities, substitutes, and orders when uncertainty or constraints arise.
Systems that may be involved
Inventory, orders, purchasing, and supplier data.
When it is worth assessing
When stock thresholds, demand, and lead times change faster than manual review.
What not to assume
Alerts can anticipate shortages; they do not guarantee zero stockouts.
How Smartservices approaches it
We map the existing process, verify data and system access, define controls and a human review point, then scope an integration or automation around the actual workflow.
Questions to ask before starting
Can this work with our current systems?
It depends on available APIs, exports, permissions, and data quality. We check those constraints before choosing an integration.
Will people still review exceptions?
Purchasing sets priorities, substitutes, and orders when uncertainty or constraints arise.
What is needed for an initial assessment?
A sample of the current inputs, the steps people perform, the systems involved, and the most common exceptions.