AUDIO BLOGS: Best practices for Demand Forecasting, and Inventory Planning.
Over the course of these podcast series, you’ll be able to identify opportunities to Optimize Inventory, Improve Forecast Accuracy, and Increase Revenue. We are offering these Podcasts due to our previous video Series’s popularity featuring Dr. Thomas Willemain, co-Founder and SVP Research at Smart Software. Armed with this information, you’ll be able to:
- Compare the three most used inventory control policies.
- Determine how much to order or manufacture and when (MRP logic).
- Use a specialized algorithmic tournament to estimate the parameters to compute the best forecasts methods.
- Compare the most helpful Forecasting Techniques.
- Identify and harness leading indicators to achieve more accurate forecasts.
SMART AUDIO BLOG SERIES:
INVENTORY OPTIMIZATION
INVENTORY OPTIMIZATION COMPLETE AUDIOBLOG
SUPPLY TARGETS DON’T WORK WHEN COMPUTING SAFETY STOCKS
BLOG SUPPLY CHAIN MATH DONT BRING A KNIFE TO A GUNFIGHT
MANAGING INVENTORY AMID REGIME CHANGE
THE SUPPLY CHAIN BLAME GAME
GOLDILOCKS INVENTORY LEVELS
TOP 3 INVENTORY POLICIES
3 INVENTORY POLICIES COMPLETE PODCAST
3 INVENTORY POLICIES 1 PERIODIC REVIEW POLICY
3 INVENTORY POLICIES 2 ORDER QUANTITY AND REORDER POINT
3 INVENTORY POLICIES 3 MIN-MAX
FORECAST BASED INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
FORECAST BASED INVENTORY MANAGEMENT COMPLETE PODCAST
FORECAST BASED INVENTORY DYNAMICS
FORECAST BASED INVENTORY – HOW MUCH AND WHEN TO ORDER
FORECAST BASED INVENTORY – LEAD TIME
FORECAST BASED INVENTORY – SAFETY STOCK
AUTOMATIC FORECASTING FOR TIME SERIES DEMAND PROJECTIONS
AUTOMATIC FORECASTING COMPLETE PODCAST
AUTOMATIC FORECASTING – FORECAST TOURNAMENT
AUTOMATIC FORECASTING – TOURNAMENT EXAMPLES
AUTOMATIC FORECASTING – BEST TOURNAMENT OPTIONS
AUTOMATIC FORECASTING – DETAILS OF HOLDOUT ANALYSIS
FORECASTING TECHNIQUES
FORECASTING TECHNIQUES COMPLETE PODCAST
FORECASTING TECHNIQUES – SINGLE EXPONENTIAL SMOOTHING
FORECASTING TECHNIQUES – THE RIGHT VALUE OF ALPHA
FORECASTING TECHNIQUES – HOLTS METHOD FOR TRENDING DATA
FORECASTING TECHNIQUES – WINTERS METHOD FOR TRENDING DATA
FORECASTING – REGRESSION ANALYSIS
FORECASTING – REGRESSION ANALYSIS COMPLETE PODCAST
FORECASTING – LINEAR REGRESSION
FORECASTING – AUTO REGRESSION IN BUSINESS
FORECASTING – CAUSAL MODELING REGRESSION IN BUSINESS
FORECASTING – LEADING INDICATOR REGRESSION IN BUSINESS
Best practices for Demand Forecasting, and Inventory Planning.
Examples of the benefits and economic impact
Meet Customer Demand
Accounting for inherent demand patterns such as trend and seasonality as well as external and internal feedback on events/promotions minimizes unexpected sales orders that would otherwise be backordered or lost. A service parts distributor increased perfect order fill rate from 92.5% to 95%.
Increase Revenue
Optimizing Inventory Levels means savings realized on one subset of items can be reallocated in order to carry a broader portfolio of “in stock” items allowing revenues to be captured that would otherwise be lost sales. A leading distributor was able to stock a broader portfolio of parts with savings used from inventory reductions and increased part availability by 18%
Reduce Inventory Costs
Less critical Items that are forecasted to achieve 99%+ services levels represent opportunities to reduce inventory. By targeting lower service levels on less critical items, inventory will “right size” over time to the new equilibrium decreasing holding costs and value of inventory on hand. A major public transit system Inventory reduced inventory by more than $4,000,000 while improving service levels.
Improve Planner Productivity
By strategically planning the inventory parameters, planners will spend less time managing outputs from their ERP and have more time to focus on value add activities. Considerable time will also be saved by reducing the number of emergency out of stock events that drain resources. A repair service operation reduced the number of emergency shipments on spare parts by 17% in the first year following implementation.
Reduce Product Costs
Forecasting provides a stronger foundation on which to negotiate with vendors. By using statistical forecasts and estimates of best and worst case demand scenarios, expectations between supplier and customer can be established. After collaborating with a major contract manufacturer using the demand forecast as a guide, An aviation equipment contractor reduced material costs on a major product line by $187,000
Organizational Consensus
When you are able to model and communicate expected demand and likely ranges along with the precise tradeoffs between service levels and inventory cost in your strategic inventory plans, you will establish consensus among all the stakeholders. Once true consensus is established, the organization knows where risks are likely, where they are not, and can plan accordingly.
Smart IP&O, a modular platform for Inventory Planning & Optimization
Contact Us Today for More Information
If you request a demo, one of our specialists will show you how Smart can help, using your own inventory data!