Our e-commerce distribution company struggles with stockouts and dead inventory, but neither our Head of Sales nor our Head of Operations wants accountability for Inventory Planning and Purchasing. How do we place and staff a seat that neither department wants to touch?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a critical seat falls between departments, the root cause is almost always conflicting incentives. Sales wants bloated inventory so they never run out of product to pitch. Operations wants lean warehouses to minimize handling costs and pallet storage. Because neither side wants to be blamed for carrying costs or lost orders, purchasing becomes an orphan responsibility tossed back and forth.

In EOS®, you solve this by looking at your business model first. If gross margin and order fulfillment depend entirely on supply chain execution, Inventory Planning and Purchasing is an operational accountability. Place the seat directly under Operations on your Accountability Chart. Define its five core roles with brutal clarity:
- Demand forecasting and vendor order placement
- Supplier lead time and pricing management
- Dead stock liquidation and inventory turns
- Warehouse receiving coordination
- Purchase order margin compliance

Once the roles are set, stop looking for volunteers. Your Integrator must assign the seat based on GWC™: who truly gets it, wants it, and has the capacity to do it. If your current Operations Director does not have the capacity, you can temporarily place their name in the seat while initiating an active search for a dedicated procurement specialist.

Leaving the seat blank or informally split guarantees you will bleed working capital. One person must own inventory turns and vendor fulfillment on your weekly Scorecard. When that metric turns red, there is only one name answering for it in your Level 10 Meeting™.