Business Policy Blog

Pursuing Best practices in demand planning, forecasting and inventory optimization

Ten Tips that Avoid Data Problems in Software Implementation

Ten Tips that Avoid Data Problems in Software Implementation

Once a customer is ready to implement software for demand planning and/or inventory optimization, they need to connect the analytics software to their corporate data stream.This provides information on item demand and supplier lead times, among other things. We extract the rest of the data from the ERP system itself, which provides metadata such as each item’s location, unit cost, and product group.

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Riding the Tradeoff Curve

Riding the Tradeoff Curve

In the supply chain planning world, the most fundamental decision is how to balance item availability against the cost of maintaining that availability (service levels and fill rates). At one extreme, you can grossly overstock and never run out until you go broke and have to close up shop from sinking all your cash into inventory that doesn’t sell.

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Stop Leaking Money with Manual Inventory Controls

Stop Leaking Money with Manual Inventory Controls

An inventory professional who is responsible for 10,000 items has 10,000 things to stress over every day. Double that for someone responsible for 20,000 items. In the crush of business, routine decisions often take second place to fire-fighting: dealing with supplier hiccups, straightening out paperwork mistakes, recovering from that collision between a truck and the loading dock.

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Key Considerations When Evaluating your ERP system’s Forecasting Capabilities

Key Considerations When Evaluating your ERP system’s Forecasting Capabilities

Consider what is meant by “demand management”, “demand planning”, and “forecasting”. These terms imply certain standard functionality for collaboration, statistical analysis, and reporting to support a professional demand planning process.  However, in most ERP systems, “demand management” running MRP and reconciling demand and supply for the purpose of placing orders

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The 3 Types of Supply Chain Analytics

The 3 Types of Supply Chain Analytics

The three types of supply chain analytics are “descriptive”, “predictive”, and “prescriptive.” Each plays a different role in helping you manage your inventory. Modern supply chain software lets you exploit all three helping you to reduce inventory costs, improve on time delivery and service levels, while running a more efficient supply chain.

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Protect your Demand Planning Process from Regime Change

Protect your Demand Planning Process from Regime Change

No, not that kind of regime change: Nothing here about cruise missiles and stealth bombers. And no, we’re not talking about the other kind of regime change that hits closer to home: Shuffling the C-Suite at your company. In this blog, we discuss the relevance of regime change on time series data used for demand planning and forecasting.

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Recent Posts

  • Finding Your Spot on the Inventory Tradeoff CurveFinding Your Spot on the Inventory Tradeoff Curve
    This video blog holds essential insights for those working with the complexities of inventory management. The session focuses on striking the right balance within the inventory tradeoff curve, inviting viewers to understand the deep-seated importance of this equilibrium. […]
  • Why MRO Businesses Need Add-on Service Parts Planning & Inventory SoftwareWhy MRO Businesses Need Add-on Service Parts Planning & Inventory Software
    MRO organizations exist in a wide range of industries, including public transit, electrical utilities, wastewater, hydro power, aviation, and mining. To get their work done, MRO professionals use Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. These systems are designed to do a lot of jobs. Given their features, cost, and extensive implementation requirements, there is an assumption that EAM and ERP systems can do it all. In this post, we summarize the need for add-on software that addresses specialized analytics for inventory optimization, forecasting, and service parts planning. […]
  • Descriptive, Predictive, and Prescriptive AnalyticsThe Three Types of Supply Chain Analytics
    In this video blog, we explore the critical roles of Descriptive, Predictive, and Prescriptive Analytics in inventory management, highlighting their essential contributions to driving supply chain optimization through strategic foresight and insightful data analysis. […]
  • Warning Signs that You Have a Supply Chain Analytics GapWarning Signs that You Have a Supply Chain Analytics Gap
    “Business is war” may be an overdone metaphor but it’s not without validity. Like the “Bomber Gap” and the “Missile Gap,” worries about falling behind the competition, and the resulting threat of annihilation, always lurk in the minds of business executives, If they don’t, they should, because not all gaps are imaginary (the Bomber Gap and the Missile Gap were shown to not exist between the US and the USSR, but the 1980’s gap between Japanese and American productivity was all too real). The difference between paranoia and justified concern is converting fear into facts. This post is about organizing your attention toward possible gaps in your company’s supply chain analytics. […]
  • The Objectives in ForecastingThe Objectives in Forecasting
    A forecast is a prediction about the value of a time series variable at some time in the future. For instance, one might want to estimate next month’s sales or demand for a product item. A time series is a sequence of numbers recorded at equally spaced time intervals; for example, unit sales recorded every month. The objectives you pursue when you forecast depend on the nature of your job and your business. Every forecast is uncertain; in fact, there is a range of possible values for any variable you forecast. Values near the middle of this range have a higher likelihood of actually occurring, while values at the extremes of the range are less likely to occur. […]

    Inventory Optimization for Manufacturers, Distributors, and MRO

    • Why MRO Businesses Need Add-on Service Parts Planning & Inventory SoftwareWhy MRO Businesses Need Add-on Service Parts Planning & Inventory Software
      MRO organizations exist in a wide range of industries, including public transit, electrical utilities, wastewater, hydro power, aviation, and mining. To get their work done, MRO professionals use Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. These systems are designed to do a lot of jobs. Given their features, cost, and extensive implementation requirements, there is an assumption that EAM and ERP systems can do it all. In this post, we summarize the need for add-on software that addresses specialized analytics for inventory optimization, forecasting, and service parts planning. […]
    • Spare-parts-demand-forecasting-a-different-perspective-for-planning-service-partsThe Forecast Matters, but Maybe Not the Way You Think
      True or false: The forecast doesn't matter to spare parts inventory management. At first glance, this statement seems obviously false. After all, forecasts are crucial for planning stock levels, right? It depends on what you mean by a “forecast”. If you mean an old-school single-number forecast (“demand for item CX218b will be 3 units next week and 6 units the week after”), then no. If you broaden the meaning of forecast to include a probability distribution taking account of uncertainties in both demand and supply, then yes. […]
    • Whyt MRO Businesses Should Care about Excess InventoryWhy MRO Businesses Should Care About Excess Inventory
      Do MRO companies genuinely prioritize reducing excess spare parts inventory? From an organizational standpoint, our experience suggests not necessarily. Boardroom discussions typically revolve around expanding fleets, acquiring new customers, meeting service level agreements (SLAs), modernizing infrastructure, and maximizing uptime. In industries where assets supported by spare parts cost hundreds of millions or generate significant revenue (e.g., mining or oil & gas), the value of the inventory just doesn’t raise any eyebrows, and organizations tend to overlook massive amounts of excessive inventory. […]
    • Top Differences between Inventory Planning for Finished Goods and for MRO and Spare PartsTop Differences Between Inventory Planning for Finished Goods and for MRO and Spare Parts
      In today’s competitive business landscape, companies are constantly seeking ways to improve their operational efficiency and drive increased revenue. Optimizing service parts management is an often-overlooked aspect that can have a significant financial impact. Companies can improve overall efficiency and generate significant financial returns by effectively managing spare parts inventory. This article will explore the economic implications of optimized service parts management and how investing in Inventory Optimization and Demand Planning Software can provide a competitive advantage. […]

    Problem

    What is my inventory position today, on any item?  Where are we stocking out and how often? What are my delivery times?  Why did we ship late?  Do we have too much inventory in one location, not enough in another?  What are my real supplier lead times?   These are obvious, daily questions, and the answers can reveal underlying root causes that when resolved will improve supply chain performance.  But these answers are elusive, often because data is locked up in your ERP and only accessible via limited reporting views or spreadsheets.  Creating these reports manually using Excel requires data imports, reformatting, and distribution to key stakeholders, wasting countless hours of valuable planning time. This means that getting updated information, when you need it, is not always possible. Not having access to these answers means that problems reveal themselves only after it is too late, and opportunities for improving the inventory planning process are overlooked, further contributing to poor performance.

    Solution

    Smart Operational Analytics (SOA™) is a native web reporting solution available on Smart’s Inventory Planning and Optimization Platform, Smart IP&O.  It provides a fast, easily understood, current perspective on the state of your inventory, its performance against critical metrics, actual supplier lead times, opportunities to rebalance stocks across facilities, and helps you uncover root causes of operational inefficiencies.  SOA automatically refreshes as often as you’d like providing all stakeholders immediate, up-to-date reporting on your operations and performance.  You’ll have constant visibility of inventory levels, orders, shipments, and supplier performance to ensure you’ll always be in tune with the state of your operations and resolve issues before they become problems. Enhance visibility. Improve responsiveness. Increase your bottom line.

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      Smart Operational Analytics

      Inventory Analytics

      Quantify inventory value
      Inventory segmentation
      Inventory classification
      Trend metrics over time

      Operational Performance

      Measure service level performance
      Measure fill rate performance
      Calculate turns, holding & ordering costs
      Trend metrics over time

      Supplier Insights

      Measure supplier performance
      Compare supplier lead times
      Rank suppliers across available metrics
      Trend metrics over time

      Who is Operational Analytics for?

      Smart Operational Analytics is for executives, planners, and operations professionals who seek to:

      • Measure inventory costs and performance in real time.
      • Assess and compare Supplier performance.
      • Identify root causes of stockouts, excess inventory, and late deliveries.
      • share KPI’s such as service levels, turns, costs, and more across the organization.
      What questions can Operational Analytics answer?
      • What does my inventory look like? By value, count, classification?
      • Is my inventory trending up, down, or the same?
      • How much of my inventory is overstocked, understocked, or acceptable?
      • Can inventory be transferred from overstocked locations to under stocked locations?
      • Can existing supplier orders be cancelled or deferred?
      • What are my current turns, service levels, and fill rates and how do they trend over time?
      • How many out of stock events occurred this week, this month, this quarter?
      • How are my suppliers performing, how do they compare?
      • What is my supplier lead time and how has it changed over time?
      Inventory and supplier reporting for your enterprise

      Smart Operational Analytics empowers you to:

      • Benchmark service performance and inventory costs.
      • Benchmark supplier performance.
      • Assess and Classify Inventory by class, stage, and more.
      • Share metrics with the organization.

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