Key inputs
Auto Replenishment relies on the following inputs to make accurate and informed calculations for inventory replenishment:
Demand – Demand data is the fundamental input for replenishment calculations. This data helps AWS Supply Chain understand the demand either in terms of past sales or future forecasts to be able to determine inventory requirements for future time buckets. You can provide demand forecasts or past sales history as an input for demand data. If demand forecasts are not available, you can provide sales history, and AWS Supply Chain will use historical consumption rate for replenishment calculations.
Inventory – Auto Replenishment uses on-hand inventory and on-order inventory as an input for replenishment calculations. On-hand inventory is the available inventory at locations that can be used to fulfill demands. On-order inventory is the open purchase or transfer orders that are inbound to the stocking location. Demand will be calculated from on-hand and on-order inventory to determine net supply requirements.
Lead time – Lead time is the time it takes for an order to be placed and the items to be received. Lead time helps AWS Supply Chain determine how far in advance it must place orders. For items that are ordered or procured from suppliers, lead time will refer to supplier/vendor lead time, which is the time it takes for a supplier to fulfill an order and deliver the goods. Any time required for internal order processing, quality checks, or handling should be included as part of the lead time. For items or products that are transferred from an enterprise’s internal locations, such as distribution centers or fulfillment centers, lead time will refer to transportation time, which is the time required for transportation and delivery from a source location to a destination location.
Sourcing rules – You can use sourcing rules to model supply chain network topology. Use sourcing rules to define relationships between different levels of locations (for example, regional DC to central DC) or relationships between suppliers and their sites. These relationships can be modeled at a product group or region level, or at a product or site level.
Sourcing schedules – Use Auto Replenishment to regularly monitor and replenish items with every run, or configure predefined schedules for items to be replenished. Use a sourcing schedule to define ordering schedules based on suppliers or shipping schedules, and on transportation schedules. You can define a sourcing schedule to replenish items multiple times a week, once a week, or during specific weeks of the month.
Inventory policy – Inventory policy is a key input to determine the target inventory level that is used to drive replenishment requirements. You can configure inventory policy at the most detailed product level, site level, or at an aggregate level such as product group, product segment, site, or region. Auto Replenishment supports absolute inventory level, days of cover, and service level inventory policies. You can define the target value for the configured inventory policy, and AWS Supply Chain uses the target value to determine the target inventory level.
For more information on data fields required for supply planning, see Supply Planning.
