It is time to bring out the crystal ball and see what the future has in store for us! Admittedly, no one really know the future but there is no harm in imagining. And it is fun as well. Read this blog and share your thoughts as well.
In one of my previous posts, I wrote about using coefficient of variation (CV) as a predictor of forecastability. In this post, I will talk about how it can be used to indicate a sensitivity of lead time towards the safety stock calculations. To quickly remind the reader first: The formula for CV = StdDev
Last post, I discussed in some detail the concept of cycle service level and how it works in the retail or a B2C environment. This week, let me take up the case of a business in a B2B environment. Typically, in a B2B environment, the orders are placed in bulk over the phone or the
Most businesses would put high customer service as one of their top business priorities. While there are many different things that make up the overall customer experience, one of the key performance indicators (KPIs) that companies measure is the timely delivery of goods to the customer. In safety stock calculations, this is typically an input
Humans love stories and learn best from examples. Behavior scientists have even given a name to this common practice: Narrative Bias. In simple terms, the human brains understands and retains facts much better if there is a story binding them together. This concept has been talked about by many authors in many different contexts and
I recently watched a TED talk video by Alison Ledgerwood on YouTube. In the video, Alison gives the example of her paper getting accepted for publication (positive news) and another one getting rejected for publication (negative news). She talks about how it takes longer to recover from (i.e., go back to being her normal self) a
Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is typically a monthly process. Through a series of detailed planning steps, and usually three meetings, companies define a plan to deal with what they think they can do to meet the demand given their supply and other constraints.
Key Point: A Sales and Operation Planning (S&OP) meeting is a meeting to design the future course of a business. Yet, too many companies spend too much time talking about the past or the current period. I recommend using about 60-70% of the time discussing the future. The (S&OP) process consists of a lot of
Key Point: Coefficient of Variation is not a perfect measure of forecastability. However, if used properly, it can add value to a business’s forecasting process. In the world of forecasting, one of the key questions to consider is the forecastability of a particular set of data. For example, a salesman might consistently be better at
You have a favorite forecast accuracy metric(s) you’ve been practicing within the organization for a while, and now you think you are ready to bring it to the Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) meeting as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) of your demand planning process. But you are not sure exactly how to go about