Rolling Replenishment helps you automatically generate picklists based on what your technicians used from their trucks or warehouse. This makes it easy to restock daily (or on a schedule) without manually tracking what was used.
What is Rolling Replenishment?
Rolling Replenishment is an automation that creates picklists or purchase orders for a truck/warehouse based on materials that were deducted from that location.
For example:
A tech uses 5 units of a material from their truck
That material is deducted from the truck's inventory
Rolling Replenishment generates a picklist to restock those 5 units
This is designed to help you restock the truck or warehouse consistently, based on real usage.
Once set up, Ply automatically generates a picklist or a PO (based on your preference) for each enrolled location on your chosen schedule. The warehouse team sees the picklist, pulls the materials, and completes it, the location's stock is restored without anyone having to manually check what was used.
Rolling Replenishment vs. the Critical Items List
| Critical Items List | Rolling Replenishment |
How it works | Requires you to check manually and take action | Checks automatically and creates the picklist for you |
Your team's role | Monitor and initiate | Just fulfill the picklist |
Where to find it
Settings → Automations → Rolling Replenishment
From there, you can:
Connect a location to Rolling Replenishment
Choose where the location is replenished from (Source Warehouse - Optional)
Set frequency (Daily / Weekly / Monthly / Custom)
Choose how replenishment is calculated (Usage, Min Settings, Max Settings or Min/MaX Setting)
Replenishing kits
Kits can be enrolled in Rolling Replenishment alongside trucks and warehouses. Enrollment is not automatic, a kit isn't picked up just because it lives under a location that's already enrolled.
Instead, kits are added through a dedicated Kits field inside the same Rolling Replenishment settings used for that location.
Once a kit is added here, it's replenished on the same schedule and strategy as the location's materials through the usual draft purchase orders and picklists.
⚠️ Kits can only be enrolled when the location's strategy is set to Min, Max. This applies whether the location is set to Create Pick List or Create Purchase Order.
Before you start: requirements
For Rolling Replenishment to generate a picklist, all three of the following must be true:
Requirement | Description | If not met |
Materials on the truck/warehouse | The location must have materials in its stock inventory | An empty location has nothing to track |
Stock actually deducted | Materials must have been used or transferred from the location | No deductions = no picklist generated |
If you're using the Min Settings or Max Settings strategy, materials must also have their minimum and maximun quantity configured in their stock location settings. Without this information, Ply has nothing to compare against.
If you want to enroll kits, the location must be set to Min, Max, the Kits field won't appear under Usage or Min/Max.
How to Set-Up a Rolling Replenishment
Step 1: Add a location to Rolling Replenishment
Go to Settings → Automations → Rolling Replenishment
Click Add Configuration
Option A: Create Pick List
Select the Source Warehouse and Truck Destination
Option B: Create Purchase Order
Select Destination Only, No Source Warehouse needed. Since the PO ships directly to the destination, the Source Warehouse field is not necessary.
Step 2: Choose your General Settings
You'll choose between generating a Pick List or a Purchase Order. These two options follow different setup paths:
Option A: Create Pick List
Ply generates a picklist automatically for the location, based on the logic you choose. Materials not stocked in the source warehouse can't be picked, so for those, the system creates a draft Purchase Order to order them from a supplier instead. (Add and activate an item in the source warehouse if you'd rather have it picked than ordered.)
Option B: Create Purchase Order
Warehouse or Truck replenishment: A Purchase Order will be generated and delivered directly to this warehouse or truck. No source location is needed.
Supplier (optional) used only as a fallback when a material has no smart supplier match (preferred or lowest-price). Otherwise, each material is ordered automatically from its resolved smart supplier. The supplier can still be changed later when editing the draft PO.
Strategy: Usage vs. Min Settings vs. Max Settings
| Usage | Min | Max | Min/Max |
How it works | Generates picklists based on materials deducted/used from the location. Replenishes the net amount used since the last update, the difference between materials consumed and those already restocked. | Generates picklists based on minimum stock thresholds. Replenishes materials whenever current stock falls below the defined minimum for this location. | Replenishes materials up to their defined maximum stock level for this location. | Reorders a material once stock reaches or drops below its minimum, then orders enough to bring it back up to its maximum.== |
Best for | Daily restocking workflows; companies that want trucks/warehouses replenished based on actual usage | Keeping trucks above a minimum stock level at all times; restocking "standard truck/warehouse inventory" regularly | Keeping trucks always stocked with their maximum stock level. | Matching the same reorder logic already used on the Replenishment List tab, now available on a schedule. |
Important! How the "Min" threshold works: Rolling Replenishment only includes materials that are strictly below their minimum, not materials sitting exactly at it. This differs from the Replenishment List, which shows materials at or below the minimum. So a material sitting exactly at its minimum will appear on the Replenishment List but won't be picked up by Rolling Replenishment until it drops below.
Min/Max resolves this gap. It reorders at or below the minimum matching the Replenishment List's rule then restocks up to the maximum.
Auto-create PO for out-of-stock materials
This toggle controls what happens to materials that are out of stock in the source warehouse when a Pick List run happens:
On: materials that are out of stock in the source warehouse are automatically ordered on a draft PO.
Off: they stay on the pick list marked Needs Refill, so you can review and order them manually.
PO Format
Sets the PO number format used by auto-generated draft POs (e.g., HVAC-526-INSTALL). Leave empty to use the default format at the time the replenishment runs.
Step 3: Set the schedule
In the Replenishment Schedule, choose how often Ply should generate the picklist:
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Custom Frequency
Then select:
Time — when the automation should run
Schedule Start Date
Once saved, picklists will be generated automatically based on the schedule.
Step 4: Confirm
Click Confirm to save the automation.
Once enabled, your truck/warehouse will appear in the Rolling Replenishment list with:
Linked location
Frequency
Strategy
Rolling Replenishment toggle enabled
Managing existing Rolling Replenishment
Once a location is connected, click the three dots (⋯) next to it to access the settings:
Edit Replenishment Settings
Use this to change the schedule (daily/weekly/etc.), strategy (Usage / Min Settings / Max Settings, or start date/time.
Process Now
Trigger Rolling Replenishment immediately, without waiting for the next scheduled run.
Open the truck in the Rolling Replenishment list
Click the three dots (⋯)
Select Process Now
Confirm the prompt, a picklist or draft purchase order will be generated right away
This is helpful if you want to:
Test the setup
Generate the picklist or draft purchase order early
Avoid waiting until the scheduled time
You'll see a confirmation modal: "Are you sure you want to process the rolling replenishment for '[Location Name]'?" then click Process now or Cancel.
Delete
Removes Rolling Replenishment from that location.
Where do picklists show up?
Rolling Replenishment picklists are created automatically in the Picklists tab located on the Stock section.
Tip: The picklist name includes the truck/warehouse location name, so you can quickly identify where it came from.
Auto-generated picklists behave exactly like manually created ones, they move through Needs Refill → Ready to Assemble → Waiting for Pickup → Completed. If the warehouse is out of stock, the picklist will show "Needs Refill," and the shortage needs to be resolved before it can be fulfilled.
Where do POs show up?
Rolling Replenishment draft purchase orders are created automatically in the Purchase Orders tab located on the Procurement & Purchasing section.
Once the schedule runs (or you trigger it manually with Process Now):
Ply calculates which materials need restocking based on your chosen strategy
A draft PO is automatically created
You can review and edit the PO before sending it to the supplier
Once approved, the PO is sent and the receiving flow begins
Why this matters
Rolling Replenishment removes the manual work of tracking truck/warehouse usage and remembering to restock. Instead of relying on someone to notice low stock or run reports, Ply monitors usage in the background and automatically puts a picklist or PO in front of the right team keeping trucks and warehouses stocked consistently without extra effort.
Common issues
"I don't see a Kits field to enroll my kit."
Check the location's strategy, the Kits field only appears when the strategy is set to Min or Max, Switch off of Usage or Min/Max to see it, on either Pick List or Purchase Order setups.
"I enabled Rolling Replenishment, but no picklist is being created."
The most common reasons:
No materials were deducted from the location: if the tech didn't use or transfer any materials since the last run, there's nothing to replenish.
Truck/warehouse has no materials in stock: add materials to the location first.
Min, Max, or Min/Max is chosen, but no minimums or maximums are set: configure minimums and/or maximums for materials at the location.
Use Process Now to test immediately without waiting for the next scheduled run.
"Will I see the picklist immediately after a tech uses materials?"
Not immediately. Rolling Replenishment runs on a schedule, if a tech uses materials today, the picklist will be created the next time the automation runs (usually the next day). This is not retroactive.
"Rolling Replenishment set by 'Min' didn't include a material I expected."
A few things to check:
The material is at its minimum, not below it. The standalone Min strategy only includes materials strictly below the minimum. If it's sitting exactly at the minimum, it won't be pulled in yet switch to Min/Max if you want the "at or below" behavior instead.
The material already has an open rolling PO or picklist. Rolling Replenishment won't add a material to a new PO/picklist if it already has one open from a previous run, this prevents the same material from being duplicated across multiple POs. Once the existing one is completed, it can be included again on the next run.
The material is set as non-replenishable. Non-replenishable materials are excluded from Rolling Replenishment.
Need help setting it up?
If you tell us:
Which truck/warehouse you want to enable
What warehouse should replenish them
Whether you want Usage, Min Settings, or Max Settings
Your preferred schedule (daily/weekly)
We can confirm the best setup for your workflow.
Summary
Rolling Replenishment automatically restocks trucks and warehouses by generating picklists (or POs) on a schedule, based on real usage, minimum stock thresholds, or maximum stock thresholds. Configure it from Settings → Automations → Rolling Replenishment, and manually trigger it anytime using Process Now.
Still need help? Contact Support!