Work Out Which Supplier Order Is Already Late — Free
Stockouts happen on items that looked fine, because the shelf level is not the question — the question is when the reorder has to be placed for the delivery to arrive before the usage catches up. Reorder dates turn that into a board sorted by decision date, with the items already past it at the top.
The proof surface
Free path: the card computes locally in the browser with no key and no account. Where an AI step helps, any free chat assistant works — Google AI Studio's free tier and Groq's free tier were both no-card and rate-limited when this page was reviewed on 2026-09-13 (limits change; check before you rely on them).
Why the flat version breaks
A stock list tells you what is on the shelf. It cannot tell you that a fast-moving item with a long lead time needs ordering today, or that a slow mover with a short lead time can wait a fortnight. Dates make that visible; quantities do not.
How to work the board in four passes
Boxes, litres, rolls. A stock figure in boxes against usage in individual units produces a reorder date that is wrong by two orders of magnitude.
The working days between placing the order and the delivery arriving, including the days their own ordering cut-off adds. A hopeful lead time produces a board that is permanently late.
Items already past their reorder date sit at the top, because the usage will overtake the stock before a delivery can arrive. These are the orders that have to be placed today rather than reviewed.
The board is only as good as the last stock count. A weekly five-minute update keeps the decision dates honest, and it is the same five minutes that replaces a stocktake.
SAMPLE DATA, NOT A VERIFIED CLAIM: Ridgeline Joinery · week 43 · six items · tape at 4-day lead · router bits at 28-day lead. Replace these values with your own source before you rely on anything.
What breaks first
Judging urgency by shelf level
A full shelf of a fast-moving item with a long lead time is more urgent than a low shelf of a slow mover. The board sorts by decision date precisely because the shelf lies.
Ignoring usage seasonality
Winter usage is not summer usage. Update the weekly figure when the season changes rather than carrying last quarter's number into this one.
Ordering the whole board at once
The board shows dates, not a shopping list. Ordering everything at the top creates cash outflows in the same week, which is a different problem worth avoiding.
What you pay otherwise
| The usual route | What it leaves out | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| A stopped job | Production halted for want of a consumable worth a few pounds | a day of labour |
| An emergency order | Next-day delivery at courier rates for a routine item | a multiple of the item price |
| Dead stock | Over-ordering to compensate for a stockout last quarter | cash tied up on the shelf |
| This page + the free reorder risk board | Computed in your tab, result on screen before you type anything | $0 |
Try the free reorder risk board
Six supplies are already dated against 19 October 2026. Move the review date a week later and the overdue items rise to the top of the board.
Open the free reorder risk board →Keep the work if you will use it again
Every item, the days of cover, the reorder date and the overdue flag, with no account.
Every item, the reorder date and the overdue flag stay free. The one-time tier adds the printable board for the weekly review plus the saved lists behind it.
Boundary: This calculates from the figures you enter; it does not know your suppliers' real performance or your production plan. Confirm lead times and cut-off times with each supplier, and keep a physical count as the source of truth.