Monthly reviews work when they follow the same checklist — not when someone rebuilds a deck from scratch. Distributors can run this in under 90 minutes with data they already export.
1. Service and risk (20 min)
- Stockouts and near-misses on A-class SKUs vs prior month
- Top 20 lines on the 14-day risk list — acted or overridden?
- Override log: patterns pointing to bad lead times or master data
2. Cash and clearance (20 min)
- Dead inventory value vs last month
- Overstock cash above target cover — top 15 SKUs
- Clear-down progress: units and euros released
3. Purchasing execution (20 min)
- Reorder list completion rate
- Supplier lead-time slips that changed risk scores
- Stop-buy compliance on flagged lines
4. Commercial alignment (20 min)
- Accounts pulling abnormal mix toward low-margin or high-risk SKUs
- Promotions scheduled vs stock cover
5. Decisions to log (10 min)
Record three leadership decisions: budget for clearance, SLA exceptions, supplier exits. Assign owners and dates — the next month’s review opens by checking completion.
Save exports and the action list with the meeting notes. Trend lines beat one-off heroics every quarter.