Grocery demand planning is high-wire act
How valuable are demand planners in times of uncertainty ? Demand planners are becoming way more valuable to organisations that have complex supply and demand chains that need to be planned .
What the pandemic proved is how fragile the supply chain really is . We have witnessed how a seemingly obscure disruption in supply and demand can bring the whole house of cards tumbling down . Volatility within the supply chain is the new norm , which makes demand planners more crucial than ever to supply chain management .
What does best-practice demand planning entail ? Demand planning teams should be connected to other stakeholders and foster collaboration within the business . Within organisations , teams have different roles , incentives , and views on supply chain excellence . Visualising supply chain issues through collaborative planning helps organisations improve alignment and drive reliability in business results and basic business strategies such as :
“ Collaboration leads to a leaner stock-holding and the ability to jointly plan around supply chain disruptions ”
JEFFERSON BARR , CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ,
NETSTOCK
n What are the goals of the various divisions in the organisation ? n What service level do we want to offer our customers ? n Are we driving towards service level or market growth ? These goals all have different outcomes , and organisations need better planning collaboration to to collectively achieve these goals .
And to successfully implement collaborative planning programs that drive supply chain excellence , companies must be clear on the role of the forecast and the inventory plan .
Grocery demand planning is high-wire act
Within retail , one segment is set apart from the others : grocery . Demand planning for perishable goods is a different ball game . But the consumer packaged goods companies supplying a given retailer with products only see what the grocers are ordering . They have no idea what customers are buying , or when .
And this is where lags can occur . If a significant order is made based on inventory and then it ’ s shipped , it can become disconnected from the actual consumer demand signals . This can cause imbalances in the supply chain , including out-of-stock in one region and overloaded inventory in another . The right data and analytics tools can help identify customer behaviour , as well as track the quantity and quality of produce coming in , and also produce that is going to waste .
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