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Demand Forecasting: A Complete Guide to Supply Chain Excellence

25 February 2025

Demand forecasting has evolved dramatically in recent years. Businesses have shifted from supply-focused approaches to demand-driven models, yet many still struggle to balance accuracy with agility. Traditional forecasting methods often fail under high variability, leading to excess costs, stockouts, and[...]

7 Ways Businesses Can Manage Supply Chain Shortages in 2022 23 November 2021

7 Ways Businesses Can Manage Supply Chain Shortages in 2022

With 2021's holiday shopping season behind us, supply delays, logistics constraints, and inflation loomed over shoppers and retailers—and the manufacturers and distributors who keep them in supply. The supply chain shortages from 2021 remain the story of our lives today,[...]
Five Tips for How to Run a Successful Software Proof of Concept (POC) 6 July 2021

Five Tips for How to Run a Successful Software Proof of Concept (POC)

Selecting and implementing a new supply chain solution is a risky career move for any supply chain manager. The wrong solution can cost the company millions and cost the manager their job. In my last post, I talked about why[...]
For Distributors, Mitigating Supply Uncertainty Begins with a Better Forecast 17 June 2021

For Distributors, Mitigating Supply Uncertainty Begins with a Better Forecast

Distribution industry supply chains have always been squeezed between manufacturers and their customers; facing increased competitive threats, escalating SKU counts, and expanding ecommerce. Today distributors are navigating increasingly unpredictable supplier lead times and availability. In a recent digital transformation in[...]
Sales & Operations Execution (S&OE) vs. S&OP 2 March 2021

Sales & Operations Execution (S&OE) vs. S&OP

S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning) or SIOP (Sales, Inventory and Operations Planning) is a well known supply chain planning process, yet not all supply chains have embraced Sales and Operations Execution (S&OE). As we all know, what you plan for[...]
How Supply Chain Planning Can Create Profit in a Declining Market 19 March 2019

How Supply Chain Planning Can Create Profit in a Declining Market

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 market forces that impact commercial opportunities need to appear on the planning radar. Therefore, traditional[...]
Decoding the Language of S&OP 11 September 2018

Decoding the Language of S&OP

Since demand forecasting has developed many “personalities” over the decades, I recently wrote a blog that “decoded” the language of demand. That got me to thinking about decoding the language of Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) which, like demand forecasting,[...]
Analysts Support a Single Model for Sales and Operations Planning 9 January 2018

Analysts Support a Single Model for Sales and Operations Planning

A new report from Nucleus Research, Value Drivers of Single Model S&OP, concludes that the historical disconnect between planning and execution in Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is best bridged by a single unified data model that allows companies to[...]
Avoid “Lost in Translation.” Monetize S&OP to Include Finance. 11 July 2017

Avoid “Lost in Translation.” Monetize S&OP to Include Finance.

Finance speaks a different language than supply chain. But by monetizing Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), supply chain planners can speak the language of finance while developing S&OP into a more mature process. In its report Partner with Finance to Monetize the[...]
Gartner says “Add S&OP to your Financial Planning”. Here’s Why. 27 June 2017

Gartner says “Add S&OP to your Financial Planning”. Here’s Why.

“Based on our research, every organization which aligns top-down financial plans with bottom-up demand plans, as part of their S&OP, sees an improvement in the accuracy and predictability of their financial forecast.”   - Matthew Spooner, Research Director at Gartner In Real[...]
Gartner Releases a New S&OP Magic Quadrant 10 May 2017

Gartner Releases a New S&OP Magic Quadrant

Gartner Research just released its new Magic Quadrant for Sales & Operations Planning Systems of Differentiation (S&OP SOD). They say that compared to just two years ago “there have been significant shifts in the relative positions of several vendors.” Gartner says that the[...]
Why S&OP Needs In-Memory Computing 22 March 2017

Why S&OP Needs In-Memory Computing

Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) or Integrated Business Planning (IBP) has a problem, and in-memory computing offers an answer. Gartner says that, “The No.1 challenge among manufacturing companies is connecting S&OP to operational plan/execution.” There is a disconnect between: financial[...]
A Nobel Prize-Winning Economist’s Four Steps to Minimize Forecast Bias 7 February 2017

A Nobel Prize-Winning Economist’s Four Steps to Minimize Forecast Bias

A problem with Demand Collaboration is that we humans naturally tend to overestimate our own forecasting skills and underestimate or even distrust computer generated statistical forecasts. We ignore the statistical probabilities of outcomes and assign great significance to the few facts we[...]
Increasing S&OP Clarity by Adjusting “Depth of Field” 19 April 2016

Increasing S&OP Clarity by Adjusting “Depth of Field”

In last week’s blog we talked about the fundamental challenge of connecting tactical S&OP down to detailed execution. Here we look in the other direction and examine the challenge of connecting tactical S&OP up to the strategic plan. S&OP creates a common[...]
What’s Wrong with S&OP? 12 April 2016

What’s Wrong with S&OP?

“The No. 1 challenge among manufacturing companies is connecting sales and operations planning (S&OP) to operational plan/execution.” – Gartner Research1 There are few competencies more core for a company than the ability to coordinate sales with supply chain in order[...]
Five Types of Inventory Optimization You Should Know 10 November 2015

Five Types of Inventory Optimization You Should Know

[caption id="attachment_7932" align="aligncenter" width="541"] For inventory optimization, optimizing inventory configuration is often the predominant issue in most manufacturing environments, versus optimizing inventory policy in most distribution environments[/caption] Here are five types of inventory optimization that you should be aware of if you[...]
Supply Chain Innovation: Improving Forecast Value Added 24 March 2015

Supply Chain Innovation: Improving Forecast Value Added

Forecast accuracy is a common and helpful overall measure. But Forecast Value Added (FVA) adds visibility into the inputs from the individual sources that contributed to the forecast, so you can understand their impact on the forecast and whether or[...]