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Logistics & Supply Chain vocabulary · Inventory Management

Safety stock

Meaning in logistics & supply chain, with examples

nounCore term

In logistics & supply chain, safety stock means: Extra stock kept on top of expected demand to protect against sudden increases in demand or late deliveries from suppliers.

In Turkish: emniyet stoğu, güvenlik stoğu, tampon stok

How it is used

A standard planning term. You hold, set, calculate or increase safety stock, usually based on how much demand varies, the lead time and the service level the company wants. 'Buffer stock' means almost the same.

Example sentences

  1. We keep two weeks of safety stock for imported components.

  2. If the supplier keeps missing dates, we'll have to raise our safety stock.

Common collocations

  • hold safety stock
  • safety stock level
  • calculate safety stock
  • increase safety stock
  • reorder pointThe stock level at which a new order should be placed, calculated so that the new goods arrive before the existing stock runs out.
  • stockoutA situation in which an item is completely out of stock, so orders cannot be filled or production stops until new goods arrive.
  • lead timeThe time between placing an order or starting a process and receiving the finished result, for example from sending a purchase order to the goods arriving.
  • demand forecastingThe process of estimating how much of a product customers will buy in a future period, using sales history, market information and planned promotions.
  • inventoryAll the goods and materials a company holds at a given time, including raw materials, work in progress and finished products.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Inventory Management

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