Saatavuusynä

Saatavuusynä is a concept used in Finnish supply chain and service design to describe the underlying driver of product availability at a given point in a distribution network. It represents the combination of processes, data, and policies that determine when a product can be obtained by a customer. It is not a physical entity, but a modeling construct used to analyze and improve availability.

The term is formed from saatavuus meaning availability and a suffix used in technical coinages to denote a mechanism or component; in practice, Saatavuusynä refers to the operational availability mechanism.

Saatavuusynä is often quantified through probabilistic measures such as stock-out probability, in-stock rate, and service level; can be incorporated in simulations and optimization models. It factors in supplier lead times, order quantities, safety stock, demand variability, and replenishment policies.

In practice, Saatavuusynä is used by retailers, manufacturers, and logistics providers to design replenishment strategies, evaluate the risk of stockouts, and improve customer-facing availability across channels.

Limitations include its nature as a conceptual construct; its value depends on model assumptions and data quality; cross-domain comparability may be limited.

See also: inventory management, service level, supply chain resilience.