NETWORK REBALANCING & TRANSFER MANAGEMENT
Rebalance Inventory and Consolidate Shipments Across Your Network
KIBO automatically re-secures reservations, consolidates multi-item split orders at transfer nodes, and reroutes around node disruptions in real time across B2C and B2B channels.
Stock in the Wrong Place Costs Sales and Margin.
Unbalanced inventory leaves busy nodes out of stock while overstocked stores discount to clear.
The Cost of Getting it Wrong.
Initial Order Sourcing Is Only Half the Battle.
Static Lead Times
Checkout shows a generic “3 to 5 shipping days” because carrier cutoffs and node processing SLAs aren't visible to selling channels.
Phantom Stockouts
Items sell out during checkout because cart inventory isn't soft-held between add-to-cart and order placement.
Invisible Inbound Supply
Incoming purchase orders are hidden from selling channels, so pre-orders, seasonal drops, and backorders get managed by hand in spreadsheets.
Trapped Inventory Pools
Stock sits idle in slow-moving stores or regional DCs while neighboring high-velocity nodes run out and lose full-price sales.
Excessive Split Shipments
Multi-item orders fragment into two or three packages, which multiplies last-mile parcel fees and frustrates buyers.
Manual Transfer Spreadsheets
Operations teams coordinate store-to-store or DC-to-branch inventory moves with static CSV exports and email threads.
Disruption Deadlocks
When a warehouse or store goes offline mid-day, unfulfilled orders stall or loop through transfers because there is no failover logic.
Rebalancing and Transfer Capabilities.
From a changed inventory position to the transfer a store associate receives.
When a new shipment lands at a central DC, KIBO automatically re-ranks the backorder queue and releases held consumer orders and priority B2B shipments in SLA order.
Automated Inventory Rebalancing Jobs
Background jobs re-allocate supply and re-rank queues whenever inventory positions change.
- Three independently toggleable background jobs: the Reservation Job, the Allocation Rebalancer, and the Reservation Rebalancer
- The jobs run on scheduled frequencies
- The Allocation Rebalancer re-allocates supply against revised inventory positions
- It also re-ranks the future and backorder shipment queues
- Stock goes to the highest-priority demand
Transfer Routing & Shipment Consolidation (Ship-to-Home / Delivery)
When no single location has every item, KIBO picks a consolidation node and moves the missing items there.
- Order Routing assigns an optimal consolidation node when no single location holds all items
- Transfer shipments are created automatically
- Parent shipments wait in Waiting for Transfer status until transfer items arrive and pass validation
- Multi-node transfer networks are supported for direct-ship and delivery orders
A consumer buys three items; DC 1 has two and DC 2 has one. KIBO routes the single item from DC 2 to DC 1 as a transfer, so all three items ship to the customer in one box.
A B2B contractor requests same-day pickup for 10 fittings at Branch A, which only has 7. KIBO triggers an urgent transfer of 3 units from nearby Branch B and notifies the customer when the full order is ready.
BOPIS & Store Pickup Transfer Orchestration
Missing items move between stores or branches so a pickup order can be completed.
- Missing inventory moves between retail stores or B2B branches to complete customer pickup orders
- If a parent pickup order is cancelled before collection, its transfer shipments are cancelled automatically
- Cancelling them prevents unnecessary stock movement
Cart Inventory Holds & Soft Reservations
Stock is held for a shopper from add-to-cart through checkout, then released.
- Temporary soft reservations start through the Reservations API the moment an item is added to a cart
- Cart holds protect inventory through checkout for a configurable timeout period
- Stock is released automatically on order completion or cart abandonment
A shopper adds a limited-stock item to the cart, and KIBO soft-holds it through checkout. When the shopper completes the order or abandons the cart, the held stock is released automatically.
A regional distribution center loses power mid-day. KIBO detects the disruption and reallocates 150 unprocessed shipments across alternate DCs and ship-from-store locations.
Network Disruption Failover & After-Actions
When a node goes offline or rejects a shipment, unassigned items are rerouted to the next-best location group.
- Triggers include a node going offline from weather, system outages, or staffing limits
- A location rejecting a shipment during stock validation also triggers it
- After-actions reroute unassigned items to the next-best location group
- Rerouting avoids creating transfer loops
Location Management (Blocked)
A location can be kept from receiving orders for a problem SKU, for a while or until further notice.
- Specific fulfillment locations can be excluded from future assignments for problematic SKUs
- The Manage Blocked Locations console manages the exclusions
- An exclusion can be temporary, lasting until inventory refreshes
- It can also be persistent, with Keep location excluded even after a refresh
- Customer care teams keep manual override capabilities
A store associate reports a broken display case for fragile glassware. The operations team persistently blocks that store from receiving online order assignments for fragile SKUs.
Unreserved general orders temporarily consume stock allocated to a Gold-Tier B2B contract. The Reservation Rebalancer detects the gap, pulls stock from an incoming shipment, and re-secures the B2B reservation.
Contract Reservation Self-Healing (B2B Call-Offs)
B2B call-off reservations are re-secured when supply is cut, cancelled, or delayed.
- The Reservation Rebalancer re-secures soft reservations on promised B2B Call-Off Orders
- It acts when supply is cut, cancelled, or delayed beyond a time fence
- It draws from free supply first
- It automatically reverses inventory 'steals' so contractual ledgers stay accurate
Fulfillment SLA Monitoring & Alerts
Kibo monitors fulfillment SLA compliance in real time and automatically emits status events to drive proactive alerting and escalations.
- Real-time SLA map displaying location compliance (Compliant, At Risk, Non-Compliant) with interactive detail views and filters
- Automated SLA events emitted on status shifts, including shipment SLA compliance at risk and shipment SLA noncompliant, driving custom alerting and escalation workflows
When store processing delays push a high-priority order into 'At Risk' status, Kibo emits a shipment.slacomplianceatrisk event to trigger an urgent escalation notification for the fulfillment manager.
These controls work together.
Consolidate split shipments at a regional DC, re-rank backorder queues when supply arrives, and block problem SKUs at specific nodes with Blocked Locations, all under rules your business defines.
Leading Analysts Trust KIBO.
FAQs
See How KIBO Rebalances Inventory Across Your Network
See how KIBO handles fulfillment exceptions with automated rebalancing, transfers, and failover, to cut freight costs and protect customer SLAs.