When calculating safety stock, which worksheet provides historical demand data?

The historical demands worksheet is specifically designed to offer a comprehensive view of past demand patterns, making it the ideal source for calculating safety stock. Safety stock is a buffer inventory held to mitigate the risk of stockouts caused by fluctuations in supply and demand. To effectively determine safety stock levels, accurate historical demand data is crucial, as it helps assess how much variability exists in demand over a specified time period.

By analyzing trends and patterns in past sales data, inventory managers can derive insights on the average demand and standard deviations during lead times. This information informs the calculations of safety stock, ensuring that businesses can maintain sufficient inventory levels to meet customer needs even during unexpected demand surges or supply delays.

The other worksheets, while they may contain relevant information, do not focus on historical demand data specifically. The future demand worksheet is likely geared more towards forecasting and planning based on anticipated sales; the lead times worksheet would focus on the time required to replenish stock; and the safety stock parameters worksheet would typically cover the parameters and formulas used for calculating safety stock, but not the raw historical data itself. Therefore, the historical demands worksheet is the most accurate source for this kind of demand analysis in safety stock calculations.