Inventory intelligence · Beauty & CPG

Your inventory lives in someone else's building. We prove it, protect it, and plan it.

Monthly reconciliations your auditor will accept, a cycle count program that actually finds root causes, and MRP-grade analysis without the MRP — for brands and the CMs & 3PLs who hold their stock.

Expert-built · Agent-run · Human-reviewed

Reconciliation bridge · sample workpaper, demo data

Raw variance — brand vs partners
$106.2K
WIP & consumption timing WO-1042
$77.5K
Receipt timing PO-5511
$26.4K
Adjustments · scrap · case-pack
$1.7K
Unexplained → investigation
$630
Every layer cites its evidence: WO / PO / ADJ #99.4% explained ✓
20+
Years in CPG & beauty supply chain
18+
3PL & CM sites managed concurrently
$500K
YoY inventory loss reduction (Beautycounter)
4
Regulated industries counted in: pharma, med device, F&B, beauty
Three programs · One build · One data feed

Reconciliation proves your numbers. Cycle counting keeps them true. The Health Agent tells you what they mean.

RECONCILE VERIFY PLAN repeat monthly
01 · Prove

Monthly Inventory Reconciliation

Brand ↔ CM/3PL book-to-book, every month. Every variance attributed to its root cause — consumption timing, receipt timing, adjustment mismatches — with the WO, PO, or adjustment number as evidence. Only true unknowns get investigated.

  • Auditor-ready workpaper package: bridge, variance register, evidence references
  • Roll-forward self-tie check on every entity's books
  • Timing-differences ledger that carries forward and auto-escalates
  • Partner scorecards for QBRs and contract renewals
$500/mo + $200/mo per additional node
10 nodes = $2,300/mo. Partners submit in their native formats. Diligence sprints (rebuild 6–12 months for a raise or audit) quoted by scope.
Built for: brands raising money, facing a first audit, securing inventory-backed lending, or disputing a partner's numbers.
02 · Verify

Cycle Count Intelligence Program

Your team counts — or we do. Either way, we run everything around it: ABC/XYZ stratification, level-loaded count calendars, generated count sheets, IRA metrics in units and dollars, and root-cause pattern detection across counters, zones, and SKUs.

  • Program design: policy, calendar, SOPs, tolerance rules
  • On-site counting & count leadership — we personally count and lead the count team (team provided by the facility)
  • Repeat-offender detection: UOM signatures, zone & counter clustering
  • Regulated add-on: lot/expiry verification, cGMP / SQF / ISO 13485 documentation
  • Builds the case to eliminate your annual wall-to-wall physical
From $1,200/mo managed program
Program design from $3,500 one-time. Regulated tier from $2,500/mo. On-site counting & count leadership $1,500/day · remote count reconciliation support $500/day. 3PL/CM count audits & physical inventory support per event.
Built for: anyone dreading the annual physical, quality systems that require documented counts, brands auditing stock held at partners — or teams with no floor labor to spare.
03 · Plan

Inventory Health Agent

MRP-grade analysis without the MRP. Drop your standard exports in a shared folder; get back a plain-English monthly report where every number traces to a source cell.

  • MOS/MOH by SKU, health score, overstock ranked by excess dollars with cause
  • Component & raw-material buy list, netted through your BOM against open POs/WOs
  • Shelf-life and expiry risk, dead stock with disposition recommendations
  • Reviewed by a 20-year operator before it ships
$2,500 one-time Snapshot + readout
Monthly program from $1,500/mo. The Snapshot typically finds enough dead and excess inventory to pay for a year of service.
Built for: brands $2M–$50M on spreadsheets or light inventory systems, outsourcing manufacturing and fulfillment, without a planner on staff.
04 · Automate

Automated Reconciliation Build on Parabola

Prefer to own the machine? We build a fully automated reconciliation workflow inside your Parabola account. Your partners keep emailing the same reports they already send — an auto-forward rule routes them into the flow, every SKU in the warehouse gets reconciled against your records, and the finished file emails itself back to you. No logins. No new habits. You own it outright.

1
Reports arrive as usual
Partner emails auto-forward to the flow's dedicated address — CSV, Excel, or PDF.
2
The flow reconciles
Extracts, maps part numbers to your SKUs, normalizes UOMs, matches every SKU, flags variances in units and $.
3
The answer emails you
A clean reconciliation file lands back in your inbox — exceptions highlighted for review.
$7,500 one-time build
Up to 3 partner report formats · tested in parallel on live data · documented & handed over with training and 30 days of post-launch fixes. Requires a Parabola subscription in your name (paid to Parabola). Optional care plan for format-drift fixes.
Built for: ops-minded teams who want the automation without a monthly service — and it's proven tooling: our founder has built these reconciliation flows in production, not as an experiment. When a variance needs explaining, not just finding, the managed program picks up where the machine stops.
Beyond the programs

Fractional operator engagements.

Senior-level execution without the overhead of a full-time hire — the same hands that run the month-end close, govern the 3PLs, and sit in the CM production meeting.

Supply planning & demand-to-supply execution

Rolling supply plans, PO/WO recommendations, safety stock logic, weeks-of-supply visibility by SKU.

Inventory operations & month-end close

End-to-end inventory close, roll-forward reconciliation, variance analysis, GL mapping, ERP adjustments.

3PL & contract manufacturer governance

Partner onboarding, KPI scorecards, SOP development, ongoing performance management.

ERP optimization — NetSuite & SAP

Inventory module configuration, workflow design, reporting buildout, data integrity remediation.

S&OP support & KPI frameworks

Cross-functional supply risk reporting, inventory trend analysis, planning-meeting cadence design.

Excess & obsolete analysis

E&O reviews, shelf-life tracking, expiry management, disposition strategy with P&L visibility.

AI-enabled workflow automation

Custom MRP, reconciliation, aging, and exception reporting workflows — surfacing risk before close.

New product launch supply readiness

Component and FG availability tracked against milestones, coordinated across CM and 3PL partners.

Why Zenith

Both sides of the dock.

Brand side + CM side

Operated inside beauty brands and inside contract manufacturers. We know how variances happen, how partners explain them, and which ones matter — because we've lived both sides of the same transaction.

Deterministic math, AI convenience

The AI never calculates your numbers — it ingests your messy files and explains the results. All analysis is auditable code; every figure traces to a source cell.

Human-reviewed, audit-defensible

Every deliverable is reviewed by a 20-year operator before it ships. That's the difference between a dashboard and a document your auditor, lender, or investor will accept.

Partner-friendly by design

Your CMs and 3PLs submit in their native formats and get cited evidence instead of accusations — so they cooperate instead of stonewalling.

A fraction of headcount

A full multi-node reconciliation program, count program, and monthly planning intelligence together cost less than half of one inventory manager.

Beauty & CPG native

The MOQs, lead times, shelf-life rules, and audit requirements that define this industry — plus count experience under cGMP in pharma and med device when the stakes are higher.

EXPERIENCE ACROSS  K18 HAIR (UNILEVER)BEAUTYCOUNTERCOSMETIC GROUP USAAMGENADVANCED BIONICSNETSUITE · SAP
Getting started

Start where it hurts.

"Diligence starts next month."

Reconciliation sprint. We rebuild 6–12 months of brand-vs-partner reconciliations and deliver the workpaper package your auditors and investors expect — on their deadline.

"The annual physical was brutal."

Cycle count program design. Stratification, calendar, SOPs, and tolerance policy — then a managed program that finds root causes and retires the wall-to-wall count.

"Cash is buried in inventory."

$2,500 Health Snapshot. One full report and a 60-minute readout. It typically surfaces enough dead and excess stock to pay for a year of service.

Let's talk

Ready to reach peak performance?

Whether you're heading into diligence, cleaning up inventory visibility ahead of an audit, or bringing an experienced operator into your S&OP cadence — the first conversation is free and specific.

Start a conversation maxwellentitiesllc@gmail.com