Inventory policy worksheet

Economic order quantity calculator

EOQ balances the annual cost of placing orders against the annual cost of holding cycle inventory.

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How to use it

A short, reviewable workflow

  1. 01

    Enter annual unit demand and cost per order.

  2. 02

    Enter unit cost and annual holding rate.

  3. 03

    Use working days to translate order frequency into an approximate cycle.

Useful for

Common use cases

  • Setting a starting replenishment quantity
  • Explaining inventory tradeoffs
  • Comparing current order quantity to an EOQ baseline

Important boundary

What this result cannot decide

Validate the output against MOQ, pack size, available cash, storage, expiry, demand variability, and supplier reliability.

Model notes

Assumptions and limitations

Assumptions

  • Demand is steady and replenishment is instantaneous.
  • No stockouts or quantity discounts occur.
  • Holding cost is proportional to unit value.

Limitations

  • Safety stock, capacity, shelf life, and supplier constraints are excluded.
  • EOQ is a planning baseline, not an automatic order instruction.

Questions

Frequently asked

What should ordering cost include?

Include the incremental administrative, receiving, and transaction effort associated with one order.

What is the holding rate?

The annual percentage of unit value attributed to capital, storage, insurance, shrinkage, and obsolescence.