Inventory Planning

[pressure9pa]

Good Afternoon Everyone,

First off all, as a long-time lurker, thanks to all for your willingness to help. I hope to be able to pay the knowledge forward one day to help future entrants and potential entrants.

As I build my business plan, I'm struggling with inventory planning. Let's say I have perfect knowledge of what I'm going to sell over the next quarter (I know), but I don't know when the orders will be coming and from whom. If I get a call on Thursday from a distributor, and he wants to order a given quantity, when generally is he/she expecting this order to be packaged and on my dock? I could argue that the name "distributor" means that they should be buffering inventory with safety stock, however, reality says that the name "customer" means that I can't afford to have him think poorly of my delivery performance out of the gate. Is there a typical lead time granted to a distiller between time of order and time of shipment? Is there a finished goods inventory level at my location that would be pre-negotiated?

Any insight or examples would be helpful.

Thanks in advance.

[Viking]

In reality you will not have a perfect knowledge of what you are going to sell over the next quarter, as you know. Building the relationship with your distributor and discussing this is everything. Takes away the anxiety from you and lets you concentrate on why they carry your product in the first place. The distributor probably has a time line that works best for them. Start there and work backwards. Very important topic. Just my thought.

[pressure9pa]

Thanks for the reply. I've discussed this with a potential distributor since my original post, but I'm still struggling to plan inventory for unaged prodcuts, let alone things that need a while in the barrel. I think you're right. If the distributor knows what's around, even if their disappointed in a delivery at least they are not surprised.

[TruGrit Concepts]

If you need assistance in inventory planning, scheduling, ordering, etc., the company I work for, TruGrit Concepts, can help you! My boss has relationships with distributors across the country as well as extensive experience in production and inventory management. You should be able to direct your focus where it is needed most: sales. We can take care of the inventory management side of everything so you can do that.

Let me know if you're interested! Our contact information is below. We're in the process of putting up a new website so I've provided a link to our Facebook page, instead. Checking out our company on there will give you a good idea of what we do.

Hope we can help!

Contact Information:

TruGrit Concepts

603 Main Street

Genoa, OH 43430

Email: info@trugritconcepts.com

Phone: (419) 855-6104

[TruGrit Concepts]

Here is the link to our Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/TruGritConcepts

[Panoscape]

@ TruGrit, could you give some advice rather than an advertisment for your company/boss? I believe this forum is for sharing idea's, answering questions and helping each other out, free of charge. Every post you have made so far has been a solicitation. My advice, give alittle and you'll get alittle. You and I are both marketers, so you should be well aware of the rules of social media marketing in forums. I am not here as a marketer, only as a learner of the art.

I look forward to your future posts of meaningful and insightful advice.

rw