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slug: supply-chain-distribution
created: 2026-05-21
updated: 2026-05-21
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# Supply Chain and Distribution

Supply Chain and Distribution carries TOC's argument that the same logic that protects a manufacturing constraint protects a distribution system: restock based on what was actually consumed, not on a forecast of what will be consumed; pool safety stock where demand variation cancels out rather than distribute it to every retail point; and treat the operating policy as "keep the buffer green," not "hit the forecast." The result contradicts the standard inventory–availability trade-off intuition: total system inventory falls while shelf availability rises.

The entries here cover Replenishment Pull as the foundational distribution concept; Buffer Aggregation in Distribution and the statistical argument that pooled safety stock protects more downstream points with less total inventory; Distribute-to-Availability as the named, end-to-end TOC distribution solution that assembles those pieces around a central warehouse and an inventory-turns sales offer; Make-to-Stock vs. Make-to-Availability as Schragenheim's reframing of operating policy from "fill to the forecast" to "maintain reliable availability through consumption-driven replenishment"; Dynamic Buffer Management as the feedback loop that resizes stock-buffer targets from red and green behavior; Actively Synchronized Replenishment as the bridge from TOC replenishment into complex MRP-dependent materials planning; DDMRP and TOC as the comparison with the later demand-driven material-planning method that grew from TOC replenishment and ASR; Cash Constraint and Cash Buffer for the common real-world condition where the binding constraint is cash flow rather than capacity or market; and Supply-Chain Collaboration as the framework for coordinating buffer policies, replenishment signals, and constraint information across organizational boundaries.

Without the statistical argument behind buffer aggregation, the central claim — moving inventory from retail to warehouse improves fill rates while reducing total system stock — reads as a contradiction rather than a consequence of variance pooling. With it, the rest of the supply-chain section is the same TOC logic applied to a different topology.

A practical reading path starts with Replenishment Pull for the foundational shift from forecast-driven push to consumption-driven pull, then Buffer Aggregation in Distribution for the statistical argument that justifies the topology change, then Make-to-Stock vs. Make-to-Availability for the operating-policy reframe, then Dynamic Buffer Management for the target-adjustment loop, then Actively Synchronized Replenishment for complex material environments that still need MRP visibility, then DDMRP and TOC for the MRP-compatible descendant of that logic, then Supply-Chain Collaboration when the practitioner is working across organizational boundaries. Cash Constraint and Cash Buffer sits separately as the framework for systems whose binding constraint is not capacity or market.

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- [Next: Replenishment Pull](replenishment-pull.md)
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