Reading the Inventory KPI Strip in EDGEBIC

Above the EDGEBIC by User Solutions inventory calendar sit four headline metrics for the selected part, current on-hand, days of cover, projected stockout, and a below-safety and suggested figure, and together they give a part's health at a glance before you read a single detailed row. Learning to scan the strip first, then drill into the rows, is the fastest way to work the calendar: the strip tells you whether a part is fine or needs attention, and the rows tell you exactly where.

This post explains each metric, how it is computed, and how to read the four together. For the detailed rows behind them, see reading a projected available balance row by row, and for the wider loop start from the EDGEBIC planning guide.

The Four Metrics

The strip summarizes the whole projection into four numbers. Each answers a different question about the part.

Read left to right and you move from present to future: where you are now, how long that lasts, when it breaks, and what to do about it.

Current On-Hand Is the Honest Number

The first metric is the true present stock, and it is worth knowing where it comes from. Current on-hand is the full sum of the inventory ledger for the part, the same authoritative figure the netting engine uses. It is computed from the ledger, not read from a display shortcut.

That distinction matters for trust. If a cached quantity somewhere ever drifted from the real ledger sum, the KPI strip still shows the honest, ledger-derived value. Current on-hand is the anchor for everything else on the calendar: the projection rolls forward from it, and days of cover divides it by demand. Starting from the ledger sum keeps the whole strip trustworthy.

Days of Cover Reads the Demand Rate

Days of cover translates on-hand into time. It divides current on-hand by the average demand rate across the horizon, answering how many days the current stock lasts if demand keeps flowing at that pace.

A high days-of-cover means a comfortable buffer of time; a low one means you are close to the edge. The metric is a rate reading, so it moves with both stock and demand: the same on-hand covers fewer days when demand is heavy.

One case to know: days of cover is blank when there is no demand in the horizon. With zero gross requirements, there is no rate to divide by, so the figure is undefined. A blank value is not an error; it means the part has no projected demand in the window. Extend the horizon or confirm demand is entered if you expected a number.

Projected Stockout Is the Forward Signal

Projected stockout is the most forward-looking metric on the strip. It names the first bucket where the projected balance drops below the safety line, after netting all future demand against all future supply.

This is the metric that catches the trap of a healthy-looking part. Current on-hand can read comfortable while projected stockout sits only two weeks out, because on-hand is the present and stockout is the future. When the two disagree, trust the stockout: it has already subtracted the demand that on-hand ignores. Act on the date by firming a replenishment timed to arrive before it, and watch the stockout push out or clear as the incoming supply lifts the later buckets.

Below-Safety and Suggested Point at the Action

The fourth metric pairs a count with a quantity. The below-safety count tells you how many buckets fall under the buffer across the horizon. The suggested total sums every replenishment suggestion the projection generated.

Read this pair as a prompt, not a shopping list. The suggestions all read against a balance that no incoming supply has lifted yet, so the total overstates the real need. Firm the earliest suggestion, re-run the projection, and re-read the strip. Often one firmed order clears most of the exposed buckets, and both the count and the suggested total drop sharply. Place a second order only if a genuine exposure remains after the first is netted in.

Reading Across All Four

The four metrics are most useful together. A part with high on-hand, long days of cover, no projected stockout, and zero below-safety buckets is healthy; you can move on. A part with a near-term projected stockout and several below-safety buckets needs attention now, and the strip has told you so before you read a single row. The rows then show you exactly which buckets and how much.

Above the multi-product matrix, a companion strip aggregates the same idea across every part: total on-hand, products below safety, total suggested, and a product count. It is the same read at plant scale, pointing you at the parts that need work.

Scanning First, Drilling Second

The habit the strip builds is scan first, drill second. Read the four metrics to triage: fine or not fine. Drill into the rows only for the parts the strip flags. That turns a long list of products into a short list of ones that need action, which is the whole point of a headline strip.

For the cover metric in depth, read reading days of cover in production planning, and for the stockout signal, read how a stockout shows up before it happens. For the full multi-product view, read reading the inventory calendar and matrix.