Minimum and maximum stock levels allow you to influence your replenishment quantities to ensure you always have stock on hand in case of unexpected demand and/or are physically able to store the stock you are ordering.
The minimum stock (safety stock) requirement specifies the lowest quantity of a certain product in a warehouse, and is set by individual location/warehouse.
The minimum stock level is added to the total replenishment recommendation.
Replenishment recommendations are calculated to cover your lead time and days of stock. The minimum stock level specifies the absolute lowest figure that stock should reach by the end of the days of stock period. If configured, it triggers a low stock notification earlier and increases the replenishment recommendation by the amount set.
Note: If units of measurement (UOM) are applied, the recommendation will be rounded up to the nearest case pack quantity when creating a purchase order.
The maximum stock requirement specifies the highest quantity of a certain product in a warehouse, or the total number of units allowed for the warehouse. Again, it's set by individual location/warehouse.
When set, Inventory Planner considers the lead time period to ensure the total stock does not exceed the maximum stock level by the time it arrives. Replenishment recommendations aren't affected as they're still computed during the forecast, but quantities may be limited when creating purchase orders.
For example, take a product with a max stock of 20 but a replenishment recommendation of 25. When you create a purchase order, the quantity of the product will be decreased to 20 and Inventory Planner will produce an alert to inform you of the reason.
Setting minimum and maximum stock levels
You can set the minimum and maximum stock levels in the following ways:
Individually per SKU
Using bulk actions
Via an import
For an entire warehouse at once (max stock only)
Setting minimum and maximum stock individually
To set the min/max stock for individual SKUs, go to Replenishment and filter for the SKU you wish to edit. Click the "i" (Details) icon, then click into the Warehouses tab.
Alternatively, you can go into Catalog > Warehouses and look for the product you wish to edit.
Enter your desired min/max stock levels for each warehouse for the SKU you're editing, and save your changes.
Setting minimum and maximum stock using bulk actions
If you want to set the min/max stock levels for a number of SKUs at once, filter the Replenishment report for the SKUs you wish to edit.
Select the SKUs using the checkboxes on the left-hand side of the page, then click Bulk actions > Set min/max stock.
The popup will ask you to set the min safety stock and max stock, and choose which warehouses the new min/max stock levels should apply to. If you pick a combined warehouse, you can choose to update the locations making up the combined figure.
Once you've made your changes, click "Apply" to bulk update the variants.
Importing minimum and maximum stock levels via CSV
If you have a spreadsheet of variants (SKUs) whose min/max stock levels you want to change, you can import the information into Inventory Planner.
In the Replenishment screen, click Import > Variant settings.
You can see the available columns listed on the bottom of the import section, where you can also download a CSV template.
The first row of your spreadsheet must be column headers indicating what data each column contains. In addition to the min/max stock columns, you'll need a column containing a product identifier (SKU, barcode, etc.).
Once you've built your file, either drag and drop it into the upload area, or click the upload area to select your file from your computer. After uploading your file, click "Map columns":
You'll be taken to a field mapping screen, where you can map the columns in your file to the relevant fields in Inventory Planner.
Click "Import" to complete the import.
You will then see an import overview page where any changes or errors will be confirmed. If there are errors, please action these and then re-attempt the import.
If you have any concerns, please contact Inventory Planner support.
Setting the maximum stock for a warehouse
You can also set the maximum stock for a whole warehouse.
To do so, go to Account > Settings > Connections and warehouses, then click the gear icon next to the warehouse you want to edit.
Enter the total number of units allowed (per variant) into the "Max stock in units" box, then save your changes. Doing so will set the maximum stock for every variant in that location to the figure you have specified.
