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Safety stock (also called buffer stock) is a term used by logisticians to describe a level of extra stock that is maintained to mitigate risk of stockouts (shortfall in raw material or packaging) due to uncertainties in supply and demand. Adequate safety stock levels permit business operations to proceed according to their plans.〔Monk, Ellen and Bret Wagner. Concepts in Enterprise Resource Planning. 3rd Edition. Boston: Course Technology Cengage Learning, 2009.〕 Safety stock is held when there is uncertainty in demand, supply, or manufacturing yield; it serves as an insurance against stockouts. Safety stock is an additional quantity of an item held in the inventory in order to reduce the risk that the item will be out of stock, safety stock act as a buffer stock in case the sales are greater than planned and or the supplier is unable to deliver the additional units at the expected time. With a new product, safety stock can be utilized as a strategic tool until the company can judge how accurate their forecast is after the first few years, especially when used with a material requirements planning worksheet. The less accurate the forecast, the more safety stock is required to ensure a given level of service. With a material requirements planning (MRP) worksheet a company can judge how much they will need to produce to meet their forecasted sales demand without relying on safety stock. However, a common strategy is to try and reduce the level of safety stock to help keep inventory costs low once the product demand becomes more predictable. This can be extremely important for companies with a smaller financial cushion or those trying to run on lean manufacturing, which is aimed towards eliminating waste throughout the production process. The amount of safety stock an organization chooses to keep on hand can dramatically affect their business. Too much safety stock can result in high holding costs of inventory. In addition, products which are stored for too long a time can spoil, expire, or break during the warehousing process. Too little safety stock can result in lost sales and, thus, a higher rate of customer turnover. As a result, finding the right balance between too much and too little safety stock is essential. ==Reasons for keeping safety stock== Safety stocks are mainly used in a “Make To Stock” manufacturing strategy. This strategy is employed when the lead time of manufacturing is too long to satisfy the customer demand at the right cost/quality/waiting time. The main goal of safety stocks is to absorb the variability of the customer demand. Indeed, the Production Planning is based on a forecast, which is (by definition) different from the real demand. By absorbing these variations, safety stock improves the customer service level. Creating a safety stock will also prevent stock-outs from other variations, like an upward trend in customer demand. Safety stock is used as a buffer to protect organization from stockouts caused by inaccurate planning or poor schedule adherence by suppliers. As such, its cost (in both material and management) is often seen as a drain on financial resources that results in reduction initiatives. In addition, time sensitive goods such as food, drink, and other perishable items could spoil and go to waste if held as safety stock for too long.〔 Various methods exist to reduce safety stock, these include better use of technology, increased collaboration with suppliers, and more accurate forecasting 〔The IOMA Handbook of Logistics and Inventory Management By Bob Donath, Institute of Management and Administration (Ioma), Institute of Management & Administration〕〔S. P. Meyn, 2007. (Control Techniques for Complex Networks ), Cambridge University Press, 2007.〕 In a lean supply environment, lead times are reduced, which can help minimize safety stock levels thus reducing the likelihood and impact of stockouts.〔A Stitch in Time: Lean Retailing and the Transformation of Manufacturing By Frederick H. Abernathy〕 Due to the cost of safety stock, many organizations opt for a service level led safety stock calculation; for example, a 95% service level could result in stockouts, but is at a level that is satisfactory to the company. The lower the service level, the lower the requirement for safety stock. An Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP system) can also help an organization reduce its level of safety stock. Most ERP systems provide a type of Production Planning module. An ERP module such as this can help a company develop highly accurate and dynamic sales forecasts and sales and operations plans. By creating more accurate and dynamic forecasts, a company reduces their chance of producing insufficient inventory for a given period and, thus, should be able to reduce the amount of safety stock that they require.〔 In addition, ERP systems use established formulas to help calculate appropriate levels of safety stock based on the previously developed production plans. While an ERP system aids an organization in estimating a reasonable amount of safety stock, the ERP module must be set up to plan requirements effectively.〔Rooney, C., & Bangert, C. (2001, April). Developing the Right Approach to Requirements Planning Under ERP. Adhesives Age, 44(4), 49. Retrieved November 19, 2008, from Corporate ResourceNet database.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Safety stock」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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