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Distribution ERP Fill Rate Calculator

Fill rate is the number customers feel, yet distributors measure it three different ways and argue about which one is right. This calculator computes line, unit and complete-order fill from plain counts you can pull from Prophet 21, Eclipse or any ERP, and prices the shortfall in margin terms.

Your numbers

orders
orders

All lines shipped in full on the first shipment.

lines
lines
units
units
$
20 %

Share of unfilled lines the customer buys elsewhere instead of waiting.

%

Your results

Line fill rate
92%
Gross margin lost
$7,493
Margin you do not earn because the customer bought the short line elsewhere.
Complete order fill rate
85.9%
Share of orders that shipped fully on the first shipment.
Unit fill rate
93.8%
Short lines
750
Revenue lost to cancelled short lines
$27,750

Results depend on how you define a complete fill, the time window and whether backorders and substitutions are counted. Use the same definition every month so the trend is meaningful.

Save results:

Margin lost vs share of short lines that cancel

Sweeps Short lines that cancel from 0 to 100, holding your other inputs fixed.

Fill rate dashboard

Optional: we can outline a read-only fill rate view over your ERP order and shipment tables.

Optional. The tool and every export work without this. No spam.

How to use it

Pull counts for one period, such as a month, from your sales order and shipment data. You need the number of orders, how many shipped complete, the number of lines, how many were filled in full, and units ordered versus units shipped. Add an average line value, your gross margin and an estimate of how many short lines the customer cancels rather than waits for. The result shows each fill measure and the margin lost. Run it per branch or per vendor line to find the weak spots.

Three ways to measure fill

Line fill rate counts the share of order lines shipped in full. Unit fill rate counts the share of units shipped. Complete order fill rate counts the share of orders where every line shipped. Order fill is always the harshest, since one short line fails the order, and it is closest to what the customer experiences. Unit fill can look healthy while line fill is poor if a few big lines ship and many small ones do not. Report all three.

  • Line fill: lines complete divided by lines ordered
  • Unit fill: units shipped divided by units ordered
  • Order fill: complete orders divided by orders
  • Define on-time against the customer requested date

Reading the result

Distributors commonly aim for line fill in the high 90s on stocked items, but the right target depends on your market and what customers will tolerate. Look at the gap between order fill and line fill: a large gap means orders carry many lines and a single short item is dragging many orders down. The margin lost figure is deliberately conservative because it counts only cancelled lines, not the longer term loss of customers who stop calling.

Common mistakes

Measuring against the promised date instead of the requested date flatters the number. Excluding lines that were never stocked hides demand you could be capturing. Counting a split shipment as filled counts the order as complete when the customer did not receive it complete. Finally, mixing special order and stock lines in one measure muddies the cause, so measure stocked items separately and fix replenishment where it falls short.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good fill rate for a distributor?

It varies by market. Many distributors target line fill in the mid to high 90s for stocked items, with lower expectations for special order lines. The better benchmark is your own trend and what your key customers expect.

Should backorders count as filled?

No. A line that ships later is not filled on the first shipment. Track first-shipment fill separately from eventual fill, and report both, because the first measures service and the second measures recovery.

Why is order fill so much lower than line fill?

An order fails if any one line is short. If an order has ten lines and each is 97 percent likely to fill, the chance all ten fill is about 74 percent. Multi-line orders amplify small line shortfalls.

How do I improve fill rate?

Start with the items causing the most short lines, then check their order points, lead times and vendor reliability. Raising safety stock on everything is expensive. Target the specific items and branches where shortages concentrate.

If you want fill rate by branch, vendor and customer generated live from your ERP, we can build a read-only dashboard over your order and shipment data.

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