Tilausvirran

Tilausvirran is a Finnish term formed from tilaus (order) and virta (flow or stream). It is used in business, logistics and finance to describe the movement and pattern of incoming orders or requests over time. The related base form tilausvirta refers to the stream itself; tilausvirran is the genitive form, often appearing in compound expressions and descriptions (for example, tilausvirran tasaus, “smoothing of the order flow”).

In commercial contexts tilausvirta denotes customer demand arriving at a seller or service provider. Monitoring and managing this flow is central to order management, production planning, inventory control and customer service. Metrics commonly associated with tilausvirta include order rate (orders per unit time), average order value, backlog, peak load periods and variability. Techniques for handling tilausvirta include demand forecasting, capacity adjustment, buffering, prioritization, automated order processing and dynamic pricing.

In financial markets a cognate concept—order flow—refers to the stream of buy and sell orders that contributes to price discovery and liquidity. While the Finnish term sees primary use in supply chain and commerce, it may be applied broadly to any context where requests or transactions arrive over time.

Effective tilausvirran management reduces lead times, minimizes stockouts and overloads, and improves customer satisfaction. Poor management can cause delays, increased costs and service failures. The term is descriptive rather than proprietary and appears in industry literature, software features and operational guidance.