Demand Forecasting & Planning

Accurately planning for future demand is critical to reaching overall company goals. It is the starting point for supply side activities and directly affects product availability and company profitability. Despite the importance of forecasting, often, cross-functional processes have not been established to create a consensus demand plan based upon statistically based historical trends and current market conditions, sales knowledge and cross-functional and inter-company collaboration. Configured products further add to the challenges of creating an accurate forecast of future demand. Operations and supply chain managers in such companies must not only forecast product-level demand, but they must also forecast dependent accessory demand patterns and unique product configurations. Here, configured product BOMs (Bill of Materials), not pre-defined BOMs must be forecasted to get a complete picture of the underlying product mix and how it changes over time.

Steelwedge's demand forecasting software provides an intuitive, Excel-based front-end solution and business process management software through which cross-functional and inter-company forecasting processes can be automated. Steelwedge's forecasting software enables operations and supply chain executives to create a statistically based forecast in conjunction with cross-functional judgment and buy-in. A plan of record for the product demand forecast is created and can then be executed upon. In addition, the solution leverages Steelwedge's patent pending Statistical Bill of Materials - sBOM technology (see Technology Foundation) - to enable operations and supply chain managers to forecast the right product mix from dependent accessory and configurable products demand.

Capabilities:

• Adaptive Analytics (see Technology Foundation)- the forecasting software automatically selects the optimum combination of quantitative forecasting techniques and regression variables. Forecast and plan from any view, such as: product, region, and channel
• Perform what-if, simulation, and scenario analysis
• Support top-down, bottom-up, and middle-out forecasting and planning
• Component level forecasting that links independent and dependent demand
• Support for environment with configured products
• Product mix management
• Dynamic accessory and component attach rates
• Historical attach rate trend analysis
• Create exception-based email alerts and exception reporting for performance results

Steelwedge’s customers have realized the following benefits from the Steelwedge Consensus Demand Forecasting Software:

• Improved forecast plan accuracy
• Increased collaboration among functional teams
• Increased order fill rates and on-time delivery
• Reduced inventory carrying costs and excess and obsolete inventory write-offs
• Improved product configuration management
• Improved product margins