Reorder point

A reorder point is the stock level at which you order more. Set it too low and you stop a batch waiting for salt. Set it too high and you pay for a shelf full of an ingredient that expires before you reach it.

The arithmetic is simple enough to do on paper:

reorder point = usage per day × lead time in days + buffer

If you go through 3 kg of salt a week and your vendor takes 10 days, you use about 4.3 kg over a lead time, so a reorder point of 6 kg leaves you a small cushion. Below 6 kg, order.

Where a static threshold falls down

The formula assumes usage is steady. For a batch maker it is not: nothing moves for eight days and then a 200 L production run takes 14 kg in an afternoon. Average usage says you are fine. The plan says you are 8 kg short on Thursday.

A threshold is a reasonable safety net for the ingredients you use constantly. It is a poor predictor for anything consumed in lumps, which is most of what a recipe calls for.

The two together

The reliable approach uses both, and BatchDash reads both:

• Planned batches give the real demand: what the week’s runs need, exploded down to raw ingredients. See MRP for formulas.
• Restock levels catch what no batch has been planned for yet.

Buying combines them, subtracts what is available, and groups the shortfall by vendor with pack sizes and minimums honored. Because each vendor has a lead time, the output is a date: the last day to order from that vendor for the batch to run on time.

Setting a level per ingredient is described in ingredients; having the system propose the order is on the buying page.