Infor LN Safety Stock and Reorder Point Calculator
Infor LN lets you protect an item with safety stock or with safety time, and planners often set them by feel. This calculator derives both from service level and measured variability. Results export to PDF or Excel.
Your numbers
Your results
Assumes normally distributed demand and lead time that are independent of each other. Intermittent demand needs a different method.
Safety stock and reorder point vs lead time
Sweeps Average replenishment lead time from 1 to 90, holding your other inputs fixed.
Safety stock review on your LN data
An optional expert pass over buffer settings against actual variability.
Optional. The tool and every export work without this. No spam.
How to use it
Pull average daily demand and its standard deviation from issue history, and the average and standard deviation of supplier lead time from receipts. Choose the service level the business actually wants for the item class. The result is the safety stock, the reorder point and the same buffer expressed in days. Use safety stock when demand is the main uncertainty and safety time when supply timing is the main uncertainty.
The formula
Safety stock is Z times the square root of lead time times demand variance plus average demand squared times lead time variance. Z comes from the normal distribution for the chosen service level, for example 1.645 at 95 percent. The reorder point is average demand during lead time plus safety stock. Note that service level here is the chance of no stockout per cycle, not the fill rate.
- Higher service costs more than linearly
- Reducing lead time variability often beats adding stock
- Use weekly buckets if daily demand is very lumpy
Common mistakes
Teams copy a single percentage cover to every item. A stable item with a reliable supplier needs far less buffer than a volatile one, and the sweep chart shows how quickly buffer grows with lead time. Also avoid measuring demand variability on forecast error when you buy against firm orders, and remember to refresh the figures when a supplier changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Safety stock or safety time in LN?
Safety stock suits items with steady lead times and variable demand. Safety time suits items where the risk is late supply, because it moves the planned date earlier regardless of quantity. Many planners use one policy per item group.
Where do I get the standard deviations?
Export daily or weekly issue quantities for 6 to 12 months and compute the standard deviation in Excel. For lead time, compare purchase order date to actual receipt date by supplier and item.
What service level should I choose?
Choose by item importance. Many companies use 98 or 99 percent for critical parts, 95 percent for general stock and 90 percent for low value C items. Each step up costs noticeably more inventory.
Does this work for manufactured items?
Yes, treat the production lead time and its variability as the replenishment lead time. Check for component availability separately, since a shortage inflates lead time variability.
If you want this calculated for every LN item from your own history, with the query visible, we can build it read-only against your database.
Related Tools
Infor LN EOQ Order Quantity Calculator
Calculate economic order quantity, orders per year and total annual cost, then use the result to set LN item ordering data.
Infor LN & BaanInfor LN Cycle Count Workload Calculator
Turn ABC class sizes and count frequencies into counts per day, labor hours and the number of counters you need.
Infor LN & BaanInfor LN Standard Cost Rollup Calculator
Check a single level standard cost build up: material with scrap, setup spread over lot size, run time, labor, machine and overhead.
Infor LN & BaanInfor LN Batch Job Window Calculator
Estimate batch duration from records, throughput and parallel processes, and find the processes needed to fit a nightly window.
More Infor LN & Baan tools
See all- Infor LN Session and Module Code Reference
- Infor LN Production Order Status and Lifecycle Reference
- Infor LN 4GL Session Script Template
- Infor LN Company and Enterprise Unit Design Worksheet
- Infor LN DAL Hook Review Checklist
- Infor LN Warehousing Order Origins and Types Reference
- Infor LN Table Name and SQL Query Builder
- Infor LN Regression Test Effort Calculator
- Infor LN and Baan Customization Inventory Worksheet
New to Infor LN and Baan? Start with the Infor LN and Baan guide and toolkit, or plan with Training Path Builder, Upgrade Path Planner, ERP Table and Field Explorer.
Keep exploring
Free tools
- Safety Stock Calculator with Demand and Lead Time VariabilityCompute safety stock and reorder point when both demand and supplier lead time vary, and see how lead time variability inflates the buffer.
- Reorder Point CalculatorCalculate the reorder point that triggers replenishment at the right moment, including review period coverage, and see the inventory value your ordering policy carries.
- Infor LN AI Assistant Sizing and Value CalculatorSize the GPUs and estimate the monthly value and payback of a private, on-prem AI assistant for Infor LN.
ERP fixes and how-tos
- Infor LN integration document types and integration rules with IONHow integration document types and rules work in Infor LN with ION and BODs: what they define, how mapping is set up, and where to debug.
- How to publish a BOD from Infor LN to Infor IONEnable BOD publish on an Infor LN table, connect it to your ION connection point, and build the document flow in ION Desk so other systems receive the data.
Guides
- Infor LN MRP Planning Setup and Parameter ConfigurationConfigure MRP planning in Infor LN with planning parameters, order policies, safety stock rules, and demand pegging for optimal material requirements.
- Infor LN General Ledger Configuration and Chart of AccountsGuide to Infor LN general ledger configuration including chart of accounts, dimensions, ledger accounts setup, and GL posting principles for consultants.
- Infor LN Cloud Deployment OptionsEvaluate Infor LN cloud deployment options. Multi-tenant, single-tenant, hybrid, and on-premise comparisons for enterprise manufacturers.
AI on your ERP
- Infor LN AI for Engineer-to-Order Industrial Machinery BuildersPrivate AI on Infor LN for engineer-to-order machinery builders: project cost, engineering BOM changes, long-lead purchasing and CE file support, on-prem.
- AI for Infor LN in Aerospace and Defense ManufacturingAI grounded on Infor LN project, contract, and configuration management data for aerospace and defense manufacturers, with on-prem deployment for ITAR.
Integrations
- How to add AI agents to Infor LNHow to add AI agents to Infor LN: a tool layer over ION API and BODs, read-only reporting first, approval before writes, and fully on-prem model hosting.
- How to use ChatGPT with Infor LNHow to use ChatGPT with Infor LN: exporting data versus live access through ION API, custom GPT actions, enterprise data controls, and when a private model fits better.