Stop 7 of 8 · Weekly
Inventory and cash
The inventory and receivables exports read together into a reorder table, a call list in order, and a cash line with your own numbers in it.
Two exports, one hour on Sunday
Sherif's inventory export has code, description, quantity on hand, quantity committed to orders, quantity in transit and location. His receivables export has customer, invoice number, invoice date, days outstanding and amount. Both are Excel, both are exported and then read by scrolling, and the decisions that come out of them are made on the feeling of having scrolled.
Read together they answer the only two questions of the week. What do I order, and who do I call.
The reorder table
Cover is what matters, not quantity on hand. Weekly sales rate against sellable stock, measured against how long a replacement actually takes to arrive.
| Input | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Sellable stock | On hand minus committed, plus in transit with its arrival date |
| Weekly rate | The last 60 days of sales, not last week |
| Real lead time | Production plus sailing plus clearance, from your own last shipments |
Show only the rows where cover is below the real lead time plus two weeks. Twelve rows get acted on. Two hundred rows get admired.
The call list
The aging report sorted by amount gives the same list every week. Sorted by amount times how long the customer has been slow, with the relationship next to it, gives the order to actually call in. Three lines per customer: what is owed, what was agreed, what to ask for today. That list feeds the follow-up drafts from stop 6.
The cash line
What is due out is in files: supplier balances against purchase orders, the letter of credit settlement, freight and clearance invoices, the customs payment the broker has quoted. What is due in is not. Claude lists the invoices and their dates. Sherif writes what he expects from each customer, and only then is there a total.
[upload the inventory export and the last 60 days of sales] Build my reorder table by product code. Columns: sellable stock as on hand minus committed, quantity in transit with its arrival date, average weekly sales over 60 days, weeks of cover, and reorder quantity for 10 weeks of cover. Use these real lead times: China 25 days production, 22 days sailing, 7 days clearance. Turkey 20, 9, 7. Show only rows where cover is below lead time plus two weeks. Do not estimate any price.
[upload the receivables export with the bank details and account numbers removed] Sort my overdue customers into the order I should call them today, using amount and days outstanding together, and tell me the reasoning for the top five. For each, three lines: what is owed with invoice numbers and dates, what was agreed, and what I should ask for on this call. Keep it to the twelve that matter.
From the same two exports plus this list of what I owe, build one page. What is due out this week and next by date, from my supplier balances, the letter of credit settlement and the freight and clearance invoices. Then what is due in, by customer and date, with an empty column for what I actually expect. Do not fill that column and do not total anything until I have. [paste your payables list with the bank identifiers removed]