Newsletter May 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 Best in Class Consulting

 

 

 

                                                        Demand Forecasting and S&OP

 

 

 

Training and Executive Coaching  

 

 

 

DemandPlanning.Net Consulting includes

Demand Diagnostics

Demand Modeling

Metrics Design

Supply Chain Process Development

Forecasting Systems implementation

 

 

 

 

 

How do we organize the demand forecasters in a customer facing organization? Are there Customer demand planners?  How do they differ from forecasters who are responsible to create a demand plan at the product level?
In practice, we have observed demand planning structures where a customer demand planner specializes in developing the forecasts by the customer for all SKUS across the product lines.  He then feeds this into the planning system.  The system then aggregates all the customer forecasts into product forecasts by product.  Then the product demand planners review the aggregated forecast, work with marketing and finance and supply chain, add judgment or financial plug and finalize the SKU level forecast.  This is not uncommon. 

The customer demand planning to product demand planning is particularly essential if you have specialized customer collaboration initiatives like VMI, CMI and CPFR\ already in place in your organization.  In such a case, DemandPlanning.Net advocates a philosophy of ABF or Account Based Forecasting strategy, which rigorously defines the roles, responsibilities, hand-offs and measurements.  This strategy has proven to increase forecast accuracy at the SKU level for improved supply chain effectiveness as well as increase customer service by providing better visibility of customer volatility to the supply chain.

However, many companies loosely define such a structure and end up being victimized by the forecast biases in the process.  If loosely defined, it is inevitable there will be a sales forecasting bias to push short-term forecasts higher and a marketing forecast bias to keep the financial forecasts lower. 

Demand Forecasting 1-day Training Seminar in Boston on July 17, 2008

Demand Planning.Net will conduct a special one-day training seminar -

Sharpen your Supply chain with accurate Demand Planning

July 17, 2008 in Waltham, MA

by Mark Chockalingam, Ph. D., and Mark Lawless

This workshop will explain the methodology and process behind accurate demand forecasts and how to effectively use sales and marketing intelligence to arrive at a consensus plan.  The focus will be on demand modeling using statistical models, the methodology to perform model diagnostics, forecast accuracy measurement and the process to incorporate market intelligence.

Thursday July 17, 2008 8:30am to 4:45pm - Learn More!
- Complete materials with calculation templates on a CD to take away
- Costs just $599 for one full day of training and includes all meals

- Call us at (781)995-0685 for special group discounts!

Is calculating and reporting forecast accuracy becoming a daunting task every month? 

Although most companies use state of the art software for modeling and maintaining the demand plans, measuring and reporting the forecast accuracy as well as other supply chain metrics become an after thought.  This is not part of their process design or implementation, so this all gets left to the imagination and creativity of the planners.  So the task is left to the mercy of huge excel spreadsheets and massive downloads of item level data and complicated VLookups to make it work. 

DemandPlanning.Net provides an user-friendly tool that is highly customizable to your data model and creates analyzable reports in Excel spreadsheets with pivot capabilities.  All the metrics required are already built into this software.  It also comes with a rich set of exception management reports.  This is also available on a hosted basis where we maintain the database of forecasts and actual sales and provide the reports through a repository accessible on the web.  Please contact us for further info at 781-995-0685 or through email at info@demandplanning.net! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Business Forecasting & Planning Excellence 2008

Business Forecasting and Planning is a major part of all corporation’s strategies and most are looking at ways in which they can improve.  If so, make space in your calendar and prepare to spend September 8 – 10 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand. The Business Forecasting & Planning Excellence 2008 is the flagship event run by theForecaster, following on most recently from events held in Boston and Monaco in 2007 and Barcelona earlier in the year..

This event guarantees insightful conclusions and takeaway messages for the senior-level audience. 

Learn More...

Demand Planning on-site workshop for your Planners, Marketers and Sales Professionals!

This workshop will explain the methodology and process behind accurate demand forecasts and how to effectively use sales and marketing intelligence to arrive at a consensus plan. The focus will be on demand modeling using popular statistical models, the methodology to perform model diagnostics, forecast accuracy measurement and the process to incorporate market intelligence and a brief overview of Sales and Operations Planning process.  Remember:  This is top notch training workshop at a fraction of cost to send your team to a training conference. 

This highly informative workshop will be conducted on-site by a Demand Planning expert.  Our Principals include Mark Chockalingam, Mark Lawless, and Joan Kopp.  The workshop runs approximately two days and includes extensive materials, an electronic case study and excel templates to take away and be used in your work.  Special price for July bookings at $6,995 for upto 12 Attendees.  Learn more...

Know the popular acronyms in demand planning and supply chain management.

Here is a list of key acronyms and abbreviations used very commonly by supply chain professionals.  Some are more specific to forecasting, nevertheless this should be a useful reference.

 

 

        

 

 


Demand Planning LLC - Niche Consultancy that specializes in Demand Management and S&OP!

 

 

 

 

 


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