How much should I buy?

- When supply chain people think about buying materials, we're really thinking about converting cash into inventory. You want to make sure that you buy enough because it can create real problems if you run out. But you don't want to buy more than what you need because that's really just a waste of money. That money could be sitting in the bank earning interest, or doing other things that are useful in your life. So, for supply chain folks, we generally break inventory into two different categories. In technical terms we call that cycle stock and safety stock. But for most of us, you can think about it as just in time inventory and just in case inventory. The just in time inventory is what you need for your daily use. So, let's say that you eat one banana a day. And you go shopping once a week. Well, in that case, every time you go shopping, you buy seven bananas. And on average, you'd have three-and-a-half bananas in your…