Three free tools every planner should run. Plug in your own numbers. Each one shows what it means and how to read it. No spreadsheets, no setup.
What it really costs to hold the inventory sitting on your floor right now.
Most manufacturers track what inventory costs to buy but never what it costs to hold. Holding it ties up cash and quietly burns 18–30% of its value every year in financing, space, insurance, and obsolescence.
Every dollar of excess inventory is a dollar that can't buy materials, equipment, or growth. This tool turns that hidden drag into a number you can act on, and shows the cash you'd free by trimming the excess.
How to read it: The carrying rate is the sum of your four cost drivers, anything above ~25% means holding inventory is expensive and excess is hurting you fast. Cash trapped in excess stock is working capital you could release by right-sizing; the line below it is the recurring carrying cost you'd stop paying every year.
The right buffer to hit your service target without drowning in stock.
Safety stock set by gut feel is almost always wrong in both directions at once, too much on steady items (excess cash) and too little on volatile ones (stockouts and expedites). The fix isn't "hold more," it's holding the right amount per item.
This uses the statistical method that accounts for both demand swings and lead-time swings, sized to the service level you actually want. It's the number a planning system would calculate, without the planning system.
How to read it: Safety stock is the buffer held on top of expected demand. The reorder point is your trigger, when on-hand hits this number, place the order. Pushing service from 95% to 99% looks small but can balloon the buffer; that jump is exactly where holding cost and service trade off, and where a planner earns their keep.
Grade your forecast against what actually happened, and spot the bias.
You can't fix what you don't measure. If you don't know your forecast accuracy, you're setting inventory, capacity, and purchasing on a number you can't trust, and every downstream plan inherits the error.
This scores accuracy and, just as important, bias: a forecast that's consistently too high quietly builds excess and obsolescence; one that's consistently too low drives stockouts and rush freight. Enter a few periods of forecast vs. actual to see both.
| Period | Forecast | Actual |
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How to read it: Accuracy is 100% minus your average percentage error (MAPE). Rough manufacturing benchmarks: above 90% is excellent, 80–90% good, 70–80% fair, below 70% needs work. Bias tells you the direction you lean, fixing a consistent bias is usually the single fastest accuracy win.
We'll turn your actual numbers into a Planning Health snapshot and the two or three quick wins worth chasing first.