# Safety stock

Operations · `Safety stock` · verification: source checked

Safety stock is goods held at any point in a process, including raw materials, work in progress, or finished goods, to prevent downstream customers from being starved by upstream process capability issues. It is also called emergency stock.

## Specification

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Kind | metric |

## Study notes

- Safety stock can be held as raw materials, WIP, or finished goods.
- The document cross-references Inventory.

## Sources

1. [Safety Stock - Lean Enterprise Institute](https://www.lean.org/lexicon-terms/safety-stock/) (accessed 2026-10-25)
2. [lec6_invntry.pdf | Introduction to Operations Management | Sloan School of Management | MIT OpenCourseWare](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/15-760b-introduction-to-operations-management-spring-2004/resources/lec6_invntry/) (accessed 2026-10-25)

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