Other Industries

There are varieties of industries that use demand planning to improve their business model.

Ortho Devices

They have numerous parts that they manufacture and ship. The demand is very close to the date of the procedure. Their primary demand is determined by small distributors who supply to the Hospitals and providers.

Retail Cafes

Their primary demand is for baked goods and made-to-order food at the point of sale. They have to bake and prep for specific day parts based on estimated customer demand. Labor scheduling also depends on store traffic by the hour and volume of transactions. The cafe demand is sensitive to regional events and holidays.

Gift Cards

In recent years, Banks have started selling pre-loaded gift cards to customers through retail channels. They spend a lot of money on designing and printing these gift cards. These gift cards are sold through retail just like any CPG manufacturer or distributor. So they have started applying demand planning practices similar to the CPG manufacturers.

ATMs

ATMs need to determine how much cash to carry so they don’t run out of cash but at the same time too much cash sitting idle means loss of interest in the cash being held. So Bank cash management services use forecasting algorithms to determine the amount of cash optimally needed at specific points in time.