Newbie using BAAN 4. Wanting to trigger a particular supplier to ship ahead of schedule because I'm expediting constantly. Don't want to add safety stock due to carrying cost. What's the best way?

Safety stock is a buffer amount to avoid stock depletion during the delivery period and also to cope with additional order demands (as if you didn't know already) The safety stock on it's own does not trigger any ordering but it does modify the order quantity to add the safety amount to the actual requirement.

The re-order point is manually input and is based on expected usage, order lead time and should take into account the safety stock level (but you can always consider safety is zero).
The re-order point only kicks in once your economic stock goes below the re-order point. If there are no requirements for the item at the trigger point no orders are generated. The system will "re-trigger" next time you run the appropriate order system, eg: SIC, MRP, FAS etc


If you opt to set safety to zero and set reorder to cover usage over lead time; you'll need to keep an eye on the reorder to ensure it's keeping up with demand.

All the other inventory settings EOQ, Min order etc modify/control the quantaties ordered rather than act as trigger points.