Container Inventory Guide

1. Understanding Container Inventory

In roll-off operations, containers are your most valuable assets. Unlike traditional fleet management where vehicles return to base each night, roll-off containers live in a continuous cycle across multiple locations. Effective inventory tracking is the difference between a smooth operation and constant firefighting.

Why Inventory Tracking Matters

• Prevent Over-Promising: Know exactly how many empty containers you have before committing to new deliveries.
• Optimize Pickups: Identify which pickups will "unlock" pending deliveries by returning containers to your yard.
• Reduce Yard Chaos: Track staged (full) containers waiting to be dumped and prioritize accordingly.
• Improve Cash Flow: Faster container turns mean more revenue per container per month.

The Container Lifecycle

Every container in your fleet moves through a predictable cycle. Understanding this cycle is key to effective inventory management.

Container Sizes

Klau tracks containers across five standard roll-off sizes. Each size is managed independently for availability forecasting.

2. The Inventory Dashboard

The Inventory Dashboard is your central command for container visibility. Access it from the main navigation or directly from the dispatch board header.

Real-Time Yard Stock Counts

The dashboard displays live counts of containers currently at your yard, broken down by size and status. These numbers update automatically as jobs are completed.

Empty vs Full Container Tracking

• Empty Containers: Ready for delivery. Shown in green. These are your available inventory for new jobs.
• Staged (Full) Containers: Sitting at the yard waiting to be dumped. Shown in amber with an "F" indicator. These need internal dump jobs to become available.

Container Location Overview

The map view shows where all your containers are located. Click any marker to see container details, customer information, and days on-site.

• Green Markers: Containers at your yard (available)
• Blue Markers: Containers at customer sites
• Amber Markers: Containers in transit
• Red Markers: Containers flagged for attention (overdue pickup, etc.)

3. Container States

Every container in Klau exists in one of four states. Understanding these states helps you make better dispatching decisions.

4. Availability Forecasting

Klau doesn't just show you what's available today. It projects your inventory 14 days into the future, helping you prevent stockouts before they happen.

The 14-Day Availability Heatmap

The heatmap visualizes your projected container availability by size and date. Green cells indicate healthy stock levels. Yellow indicates low stock. Red signals a projected stockout.

Understanding Projected Stock Levels

Klau calculates projected availability by starting with today's actual counts and applying all scheduled jobs going forward:

• Deliveries: Subtract from available stock (container leaves yard)
• Pickups: Add to staged stock (container returns but full)
• Dump & Returns: Convert from staged to available (container emptied)
• Swaps: Net neutral (one out, one in of same size)

Identifying Future Shortages

When the heatmap shows red (stockout) or yellow (low stock) for a future date, Klau provides actionable recommendations:

• Which pickups, if expedited, would resolve the shortage
• Which internal dumps need to happen to free up containers
• Which deliveries could be rescheduled if needed

5. Fulfillment Guardrails

Klau proactively prevents inventory problems before they become customer disappointments. The fulfillment guardrails system runs in real-time during job creation and scheduling.

How Klau Warns About Stockouts

When you create or schedule a delivery, Klau instantly checks projected inventory for that date and container size. If the delivery would cause a stockout (today or in the future), you'll see an immediate warning.

Real-Time Availability Checks

Every action that affects inventory triggers an instant availability check:

• Creating a new delivery job
• Rescheduling an existing job to a different date
• Changing a job's container size
• Canceling a pickup (reduces future availability)

Blocked Delivery Warnings

Jobs that would cause stockouts can be:

• Blocked: Prevented from being scheduled until inventory is available (configurable setting)
• Warned: Allowed with a visible warning badge and audit log entry
• Override: Dispatcher can acknowledge the warning and proceed (useful for expected pickups that just haven't been entered yet)

Resolving Inventory Conflicts

When guardrails trigger, Klau suggests specific actions to resolve the conflict:

6. Automatic Inventory Discovery

One of Klau's most powerful features is its ability to "learn" your fleet automatically. You don't need perfect inventory data to get started. Klau discovers containers through normal operations.

How Klau Learns Your Fleet

Every completed job teaches Klau about your container inventory:

• Deliveries: Klau learns a container of that size exists and is now at the customer site.
• Pickups: If picking up from a site Klau didn't know had a container, it adds the container to your tracked inventory.
• Photo Verification: When drivers upload container photos, Klau can detect container IDs and match them to your fleet.

Manual Inventory Adjustments

Sometimes you need to manually adjust inventory. Common scenarios include:

• Purchasing or selling containers
• Containers damaged and removed from service
• Correcting data entry errors
• Initial setup before first job completion

Reconciliation Best Practices

For best accuracy, perform a quick inventory reconciliation weekly:

1. Compare Klau's yard count to your physical count
2. Verify staged containers match what's actually waiting to be dumped
3. Spot-check a few customer sites with the longest dwell times
4. Adjust any discrepancies and add notes for audit trail

7. Inventory Estimation

Don't have exact container counts? That's okay. Klau provides tools to estimate your inventory and refine it over time.

Initial Setup Without Exact Counts

When first setting up Klau, you can provide rough estimates:

Estimating Based on Job History

If you have historical job data (CSV exports, EnCore sync, etc.), Klau can analyze past jobs to estimate your fleet composition:

• Peak daily deliveries suggest minimum fleet size
• Size distribution of past jobs indicates container mix
• Average job duration estimates containers at customer sites

Importing Inventory from Spreadsheets

Klau accepts CSV imports for bulk inventory setup. Required columns:

Ongoing Accuracy Improvement

Klau's inventory accuracy improves naturally over time:

• Each completed job validates or discovers containers
• Discrepancy alerts prompt investigation and correction
• Photo verification adds confidence to container tracking
• Weekly reconciliation catches any drift

8. Internal Dump Jobs

Internal dump jobs are a unique feature designed for roll-off operations. They handle the critical step of emptying staged containers so they can be redelivered.

What Are Internal Dump Jobs?

When a driver picks up a container from a customer site and returns to the yard, that container is full. It needs to be taken to a dump site and emptied before it can be delivered to another customer. An internal dump job handles this transition.

How Klau Auto-Generates Them

Klau automatically creates internal dump jobs when:

• Staged containers are sitting at the yard for more than a configurable threshold
• Upcoming deliveries will require containers that are currently staged
• Optimization identifies an efficient chaining opportunity (pickup → dump → delivery)

Managing Staged Containers

The Inventory Dashboard shows all staged containers with:

• How long they've been waiting (hours/days)
• Their size and any pending delivery that needs them
• Recommended dump priority based on upcoming demand
• One-click action to create an internal dump job

Prioritizing Dumps for Upcoming Deliveries

Klau ranks staged containers by urgency:

9. Reports & Analytics

Klau provides comprehensive inventory analytics to help you optimize your fleet and improve operational efficiency.

Container Utilization Metrics

Understand how effectively your containers are being used:

• Active Utilization: Percentage of containers currently at customer sites generating revenue.
• Yard Dwell Time: Average time containers sit at yard between jobs.
• Staged Wait Time: Average time full containers wait before being dumped.
• Dead Stock: Containers that haven't moved in 30+ days.

Turn Rate by Size

Container turn rate measures how many times each container is used per month. Higher turn rates mean more revenue per container.

Average Time at Customer Site

This metric helps with billing accuracy and identifying customers who may need follow-up:

• By Customer Type: Residential vs. Commercial vs. Construction
• By Size: Larger containers often stay longer
• Overdue Alerts: Containers past expected pickup date

Fleet Capacity Planning

Use Klau's analytics to make informed decisions about your fleet:

• Peak Demand Analysis: Which sizes frequently run out?
• Seasonal Trends: How does demand vary throughout the year?
• Growth Projections: When will you need to purchase more containers?
• Right-Sizing: Are some sizes underutilized and could be converted?