A retail chain operating across 9 warehouses and 40+ stores in India had been running inventory on a legacy ERP system that updated stock levels nightly. By morning, the numbers were already wrong.
Stock-outs on fast-moving SKUs coexisted with dead stock on slow movers filling valuable floor space. The reorder process was manual — purchasing managers received weekly Excel reports and placed orders based on gut feel and supplier relationships rather than data.
The client needed real-time inventory visibility across all locations and an automated reorder system that would eliminate both stock-outs and the accumulation of dead stock.
Connected barcode scanners at all 9 warehouse gates via MQTT to a Kafka event stream. Every goods-in, goods-out and transfer event updates stock in under 500ms — replacing the nightly batch job.
Demand-weighted safety-stock calculation per SKU per location. Dynamic reorder points that account for lead time variability and seasonal velocity. Auto-generates draft POs for purchasing manager approval.
Operations dashboard showing real-time stock, velocity ABC classification, stock-out risk signals and dead-stock ageing. Mobile app for warehouse staff receiving and transfer confirmation.
Parallel run for 2 days alongside legacy system. Cutover on day 14. Training for purchasing team on interpreting reorder recommendations and overriding system decisions with reason codes.