Collaborative Flowcasting

By RedPrairie

Traditional forecasting and demand planning systems have tackled the retail supply chain from the wrong angle – trying to forecast downward from manufacturing to distribution, never getting beyond shipments out of the DCs. But that doesn't tell you anything about which items are actually selling in each store. In short, it doesn't account for actual consumer demand, which is at the heart of the "demand driven" or "sense and respond" inventory strategies required in today's consumer driven economy. What's more, these forecasts are not linked to store and supply chain execution systems, such as perpetual inventory control, to react efficiently and effectively to changes in demand. Clearly, a new approach was needed.

Fortunately, there is a new approach that makes perfect sense: start your forecast at the item level within each store – where true consumer demand begins – and flow this up through the supply chain to drive all other activities, from the store shelf to manufacturing plants & raw material suppliers. This is Collaborative Flowcasting.