Safety stock is covering for the process, not for demand
Module · Supply and Inventory Planning
Most safety stock was set at go live from a service level target and a factor, and has not been tested against a receipt since.
Prophesee Inventory computes cover from measured variability and shows what a cash target costs in service.
Stock went up. Service did not. The buffers are covering for us.
Buffers went up after 2020 and stayed up, because a buffer is the cheapest way to cover a lead time nobody trusts.
Sources: The Hackett Group, European Working Capital Survey, Nov 2025 (1,000 largest European headquartered non-financial companies) · McKinsey, supply chain survey, Nov 2023 (n=101 respondents across six continents; fieldwork more than two years old) · McKinsey, Supply Chain Risk Pulse, Dec 2025 (n=100 global supply chain leaders), self reported intent rather than measured stock · 3RDi review of published product pages of the major planning and inventory platforms, Aug 2026.
From setting the buffer to earning it
ForesightSafety stock was set from a service target and a factor at go live. Nothing has tested it against the demand and lead time actually observed since.
Cover computed from the measured distribution of demand and of lead time by item and node, not from a fixed factor. Recomputed as orders close, with the drivers of every change shown.
PulseCover is reported in days against a target, weeks after the week it describes, with no cause attached to any breach.
Cover tested continuously at every node. When it breaches, the alert names the cause, demand, supply or parameter, and routes to the owner who can act on that cause.
HorizonA working capital number arrives from finance and is spread across the network by argument, because nobody can price what it costs in service.
The frontier between cash and service, modelled across the network. Move the target and watch projected service, stockouts and expedite move with it before anyone commits.
NexusAnswering why an item is short means opening the planning system, the ERP, the supplier portal and an inbox, and the answer arrives after the decision.
Demand, supply, receipts, parameters and supplier messages resolved into one graph. Ask in plain language and get the answer with the source behind every figure.
Turning inventory challenges into decisions
Each node is planned as if it stood alone, so buffers are stacked at every level and the network holds cover it does not need.
ForesightReorder point, lot size and service target were typed in at go live and have not been tested against outcome since.
Foresight PulseThe report lists every item outside its band, sorted by size, so the planner works the big ones rather than the costly ones.
Pulse NexusA target is set, stock falls, and nobody can say which action moved it or what it cost in service.
HorizonThe run moves hundreds of orders when nothing has changed outside, and the buffer absorbs the noise at a cost.
Pulse Horizon13 AI applications that could be relevant
A sample of what becomes possible on the decision layer, not a fixed list: each application draws on the same data foundation and audit trail, and new ones are configured on the engines, not built from scratch.
Cover positioned across the whole network against one service objective, not stacked node by node.
Which items will go short, when, and what the shortage costs.
Cover computed from measured demand and lead time variability rather than a fixed factor.
Items heading for write off, flagged while there is still time to act.
Parameters whose true value has moved, ranked by what the error is costing.
Ranked by service impact and cash, routed to a named owner.
Cover falls below the agreed days at a node, raised with the cause attached.
Orders rescheduled by the run without a corresponding change in the real world.
What a working capital target costs in service, priced before anyone commits to it.
Move stock between nodes in a model and watch service and cash update.
The date the plan reaches the inventory target at the agreed service level.
Why this item is short, traced across planning, ERP and supplier data.
Who set this safety stock, when, and on what assumption.
A day when the buffer earns its place
Today: Safety stock set at go live from a factor nobody remembers choosing.
ForesightSafety stock recomputed from measured demand and lead time. Two hundred items are carrying cover they no longer need.
Today: A cover breach found in a report published after the week it describes.
PulseCover falls at one node. The alert names the cause as a supplier lead time, not demand, and routes accordingly.
Today: A reduction target spread across the network by argument.
HorizonThe finance target modelled on the frontier. She can show what it costs in service before she agrees to it.
Today: A planning run that moved four hundred orders for no reason outside.
ForesightThe freed cash is named by item and node, with the service impact of each release shown next to it.
Yesterday's buffer becomes today's decision.
Hold service with less cover
We agree the metric and the baseline in week one, and measure the result on your data.