Nonstock items with steady demand cost you lead time and customers. Stock items that stopped selling cost you cash and shelf space. This guide finds both and returns downloadable lists for each.
⏰ Time: about 15 minutes.
Before you start
Start a new chat on the Cue page, not the side panel. Planning screens hide many nonstock items, so these prompts start from the stockable flag and usage instead.
Adjust the thresholds to your business. The ones below are a starting point.
Results cap at 500 rows. Each prompt asks Cue to tell you if there are more.
Step 1: Find nonstock items behaving like stock items
Find item-locations we should consider making stockable.
Start from item-locations where stockable is false and the item is not discontinued. Use the last 12 complete months of demand.
Keep an item-location only if all of these are true:
- demand in at least 4 different months
- at least 3 distinct customers
- no single customer accounts for more than 60% of units
- trailing-12-month usage quantity is greater than 0
Rank by trailing-12-month usage value (usage quantity × unit cost). Return a downloadable table with item code, item name, location, annual usage quantity, usage value, months with demand, number of customers, largest customer's share of units, current purchase class, and primary supplier. Summarize how many candidates there are and the total usage value they represent. Cap the table at 500 rows and say whether there are more.
The customer rules matter. Demand from one customer is a stocking agreement conversation, not a stocking decision.
Step 2: See what class they'd be
Run this in the same chat. It answers "if we stocked these, where would they land?" Use the same cutoffs you use for ABC.
Using trailing-12-month usage-value rules (A = top 80% of a location's usage value, B = next 15%, C = the rest), which nonstock, non-discontinued item-locations would land in A or B?
Only include item-locations with demand in at least 4 of the last 12 months, at least 3 distinct customers, and no single customer over 60% of units.
Return a downloadable table with item code, item name, location, proposed class, annual usage quantity, usage value, months with demand, and number of customers. Cap the table at 500 rows and say whether there are more.
A and B candidates are where stocking pays off first.
Step 3: Find stock items that should come off the shelf
Find stockable, non-discontinued item-locations that may not belong in stock. Use the last 12 complete months of demand.
Keep an item-location if either is true:
- zero usage in the last 12 months
- demand in 3 or fewer months, with a single customer accounting for more than 80% of units
Return a downloadable table with item code, item name, location, on-hand quantity, on-hand value, months with demand, number of customers, largest customer's share of units, and current purchase class. Sort by on-hand value, highest first. Cap the table at 500 rows and say whether there are more.
Tips
Before you drop an item, check other locations: "Does [item code] have demand at any other location in the last 12 months?" It may be a transfer, not a write-off.
Click any item to open it in Planning.
What happens next
Cue is read only. It can't change the stockable flag. Use the downloaded tables to update stock status in your ERP.