Innovative Planning, Superior Results.
Continuing on our look into the Forecasting process now we will look at some forecasting methods. A key decision you will have to make is Choosing what method you will use. Qualitative or quantitative or most likely a mix of both. Quantitative methods look at historical data. Qualitative methods look at opinion. This can be…
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Now that you understand the basic concepts and elements of a forecast let’s look at the process for creating and maintaining such a forecast. Determine what the forecast is for. Determine how far out you will look and what the interval or buckets will be Determine what level of detail the forecast will look at.…
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You might think the first piece of demand we should cover is Customer Orders. Well for most businesses’ forecasts are more important. This is because the lead-time back through the supply chain is so long that you have to plan production based on a forecast of demand rather than actual customer orders. There are exceptions…
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Sales and Operations Planning is better known as S&OP. It is a common process designed to give management an overview of the expected performance of the business through the next few months with an objective of balancing supply and demand. It started in the 1980s with large multinational corporations but is now an increasingly mainstream…
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This is concerned with the transportation and storage of raw materials and finished products. It should still fit into the strategic plan but I’m going to separate it out on its own because it is often overlooked at this stage in the big picture and only addressed in more short term planning when it is…
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The Strategic plan is linked to the Business Plan and will have been set by senior management. It is still a very high-level strategic plan for the organisation but this is one you are more likely to encounter especially when annual goals are being set. Those goals are likely to have originated in the strategic…
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Business Planning is about deciding what the company will do and how. It is a very high-level stage in the planning process. It is quite likely in fact that if you are an employee you will never actually see this document as it will contain highly confidential information. However you should be aware of some…
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A major challenge in planning is finding the balance between supply and demand. An imbalance between the two will have a serious impact on the efficient and profitable running of your business. Too much supply may result in excess stock or capacity which represent unnecessary cost in the business Too much demand will put unsustainable…
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Some of our clients have asked for information on the basics of Supply Chain Management for their staff with the aim of making their entire organisation familiar with the fundamentals of the Supply Chain. This is important because there is hardly a department in a company that is not in some way part of or…
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Some of our clients have asked for information on the basics of Supply Chain Management for their staff with the aim of making their entire organisation familiar with the fundamentals of the Supply Chain. This is important because there is hardly a department in a company that is not in some way part of or…
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