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TOPIC: S&OP • Demand Planning • Machine Learning • Inventory Optimization • Supply Chain Planning •

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The Absolut Company: Balancing Service and Inventory Creates a Delicious Mix

14 May 2019

The world’s #2 selling vodka brand leaves nothing to chance when it comes to quality and sustainability. Here’s how they teamed up with ToolsGroup partner Optilon for a seamless supply chain planning process. With continuously shifting consumer preferences and brands[...]

25 April 2019

Quick Start Guide to Using Machine Learning for Demand Planning

Anyone who has done demand planning knows it is extremely complex, with forecasting challenges and rapidly shifting consumer demand, often exacerbated by seasonality, new product introductions, promotions, and myriad causal factors (e.g. weather, social media). The good news is that[...]

12 April 2019

How to Make Supply Chain Complexity Work to Your Advantage

With supply chain complexity increasing at an unprecedented rate, perhaps the biggest challenge for businesses is figuring out how to navigate this uncertainty to deliver service profitably. Amazon sells more than 3 billion products through 11 different country marketplaces globally.[...]

2 April 2019

Should You Outsource Demand Planning?

Outsourcing non-core business processes has been a time-tested way to cut costs while improving performance. Initially companies focused on functions like Finance and HR. But now they have started outsourcing supply chain business processes like demand planning, allowing them to[...]

19 March 2019

How Supply Chain Planning Can Create Profit in a Declining Market

How Supply Chain Planning Can Create Profit...

When a business finds itself in a declining market, failing to stay in lock step with customer demand poses an existential threat. Trends and other[...]

5 March 2019

Supply Chain Planning in Emerging Markets: Four Points to Remember

Supply Chain Planning in Emerging Markets: Four...

Supply chain planning in emerging markets is different. And while each market can be unique, we found a few repeating themes in our own experience[...]

19 February 2019

Mid-Market Companies Leapfrogging Supply Chain Planning Maturity Stages

Mid-Market Companies Leapfrogging Supply Chain Planning Maturity...

Is the latest technology enabling some mid-market companies to leapfrog supply chain planning (SCP) stages of maturity? The evidence suggests that it is. Publicly, analysts are[...]

5 February 2019

Design, Operating and Situational Inventory Trade-Offs

Gartner analyst Paul Lord has developed a framework to better understand inventory trade-offs by categorizing those decisions according to the objectives they are meant to achieve:[...]

22 January 2019

Which Supply Chain Planning Processes Should We Automate?

Which Supply Chain Planning Processes Should We...

Now that more companies are embracing supply chain planning productivity and automation, many firms are asking which processes they should automate. Let's first address that question and then[...]

8 January 2019

Recreating the Environment in which Historical Demand Occurred

Recreating the Environment in which Historical Demand...

At last year’s Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference analyst Tom Enright summarized the essence of successful demand forecasting with the following statement: “Demand forecast accuracy[...]

18 December 2018

The Three “Habits” for Successful IoT Implementations

In Lora Cecere’s Supply Chain 2020 study, the Internet of Things (IoT) was considered one of two disruptive technologies with the greatest potential impact on[...]

11 December 2018

Demand Planning is the top Machine Learning App for Supply Chain Planning

Demand Planning is the top Machine Learning...

Gartner recently polled both users and vendors on which types of supply chain planning (SCP) applications were employing machine learning technology. In three different analysis, demand planning and[...]

Sales & Operations Planning Software S&OP provides the critical link between inventory, customer service and business performance by enabling cross-functional planning and bridging the gap between strategic planning and operational execution.

Promotions Planning Software Promotions Planning gives cross-functional teams the visibility to synchronize demand shaping campaigns and promotions with supply chain operations ensuring that inventory is in the right place to meet demand on a daily basis, right down to the store level.

Production Planning Software Production Planning provides unparalleled visibility, insight and control of the entire production lifecycle to improve efficiency and quality control, and service demand.

Inventory Optimization Software Inventory Optimization factors in multiple planning variables and probabilities to generate an optimal multi-echelon inventory plan for every item in a portfolio to achieve target service levels.

Allocation and Replenishment Software Allocation and Replenishment automatically calculates optimal inventory levels for both existing and new items to create a phased, time-series plan that achieves target service levels even in the face of demand variability and distribution complexity.

Demand Planning & Sensing Software Demand Planning & Sensing automates the creation of demand plans using machine learning and by incorporating detailed short-term demand signals and demand collaboration, it reduces forecast error and optimally deploys inventory.

Planning as a Service Planning-as-a-Service provides business-focused, technology enabled resources to help customers quickly achieve value from their SO99+ implementation. It accelerates time-to-value over a traditional implement and learn approach.