Bargreen Ellingson Netstock AI Inventory Cuts Stockouts 5%, Saves $2M

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Bargreen Ellingson Netstock AI Inventory Cuts Stockouts 5%, Saves $2M

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Bargreen Ellingson, a major US foodservice distributor operating 25 warehouses and three large distribution centers across North America, deployed Netstock's AI inventory optimization across its thousands of SKUs and reduced excess inventory by $2 million while improving fill rates by 5% for high-turn items and cutting stock-out rates by two-thirds over roughly two years. Bargreen said, "Someone with no training can log in and do something useful," describing the platform's ease of use, while on The Reorder Point podcast the company noted it "felt it was flexible and collaborative, not just a vendor dropping off software" when evaluating supply and demand planning solutions against alternatives. The deployment addressed a specific scaling pain point: as SKU counts grew and customer orders increased 40%, regional operations expanded, and planners were forced to spend more time correcting spreadsheets than forecasting demand, generating false positives that disrupted demand signals and leaving the team with no predictive visibility into stock-out risk before items reached customers. Netstock was selected for three reasons: a custom policy override engine that let Bargreen embed its specific business logic for SKUs with varying service levels and lead times, an intuitive interface that all 25 warehouse managers could operate without formal training, and a partnership approach where Netstock worked closely with the team during onboarding. After implementation, the turning point came with AI Opportunities™, which continuously scans inventory data in real time and surfaces high-impact, actionable recommendations before planners have to comb through reports; the system flags potential stock-outs early and identifies excess inventory building in specific locations, then suggests specific actions such as "Hey, you should expedite this order or maybe transfer stock from warehouse B to A." A side benefit that did not show up in the KPI sheet was morale: managers reported feeling "more empowered and effective in their roles," with "a genuine sense of accomplishment," as the platform replaced constant firefighting with confident decision-making. Looking ahead, Bargreen knows "there is a lot more value to unlock" and is exploring additional capabilities within Netstock's platform as supplier networks evolve and customer bases expand, treating the deployment as an embedded advantage rather than a one-time improvement.