Milk Run Frequency Planner
Calculate real average line-side inventory using the sawtooth time-average, half the run capacity, not the full delivery quantity a naive estimate would report.
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How this works
With steady consumption between deliveries, inventory at the point of use draws down linearly from the full delivery quantity to zero, a sawtooth pattern whose time-average is half the delivery quantity, not the full quantity.
Key terms
- Sawtooth average: the time-average inventory level between deliveries, half the run capacity under steady consumption.
Assumptions
- Steady, linear consumption between deliveries
Limitations
- Single line-side location, not a multi-stop route
Sources
Standard lean/milk-run replenishment practice.
Worked example
Reporting the full 100-unit run capacity as "inventory carried" overstates the real average by 2x. The sawtooth time-average, half the run capacity, is correctly 50 units, since the line runs from a full 100 units down to 0 between each delivery.
Common use cases
- Sizing a milk-run route's delivery frequency and per-trip capacity
- Estimating real average line-side footprint, not the peak delivery size
- Feeding a line-side inventory sizing calculation downstream