| Articles Tags | Demand Planning

Taking a Peek at Peak Season

It’s never too early to prepare for the holiday peak season, especially with disruptions mounting amid solid consumer spending. Shippers and carriers are employing automation, data-based decision making, and smart inventory management strategies—and tapping into lessons learned from last year—to get into position for 2024.

December 12, 2023 | Demand Planning | Inventory Management

Demand Planning vs. Supply Planning: Key Differences and Value

Demand planning vs. supply planning remains a cornerstone debate in the logistics sector. Both concepts are integral to supply chain management, determining many businesses’ efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and overall success. Recent studies indicate that organizations that effectively balance demand planning and supply planning see up to a 15% increase in forecast accuracy and a 35% reduction […]

September 1, 2023 | Demand Planning

Demand Planning: Process, Significance, and Components

Demand planning is pivotal in today’s shipping and customer service industry. This strategic process predicts future demand, optimizes inventory levels, and boosts customer satisfaction. In an era where supply chain efficiency is paramount, understanding demand planning is the difference between a thriving business and one that struggles. Here, we’ll explore this critical component of the […]

May 22, 2023 | Demand Planning | Inventory Management | May 2023

Future-Proof Your Supply Chain

Unpredictable demand has become standard, but there is no reason why it should cause your business to be unaware, unfocused, and unready. Consider these action items to overcome challenges and future-ready your operations during peak seasons.

May 19, 2023 | Demand Planning | Transportation

4 Tips for Procurement Logistics Pros to Weather Economic Storms

For logistics procurement, the past 12 months have been a continual, yet perfect storm. First, the pandemic exposed a decades-old model based on low transportation costs. Then the conflict in Ukraine created a fresh set of problems, including a huge spike in energy prices. The relative certainty that procurement and supply chain organizations enjoyed at […]

November 7, 2022 | Demand Planning | November 2022

Becoming a Demand-Driven Enterprise

The key to becoming more agile when responding to demand signals is overcoming data and decision-making siloes that impact your ability to deliver. Here are 10 ways you can start to optimize your operations to become more predictive and proactive.

June 1, 2022 | Demand Planning | Last Mile Delivery | Technology | Trucking

Optimizing the Last Mile

Complexities and constantly changing demands impact last-mile delivery. Since the pandemic, consumer demand and e-commerce volumes have surged, as delivery windows have shrunk. Businesses can address the challenges of the last mile with technology, along with these directives.

May 31, 2022 | Big Data | Demand Planning | Supply Chain | Supply Chain Visibility

What’s the biggest supply chain silo?

Readers shine a light on the most significant information lapses and data gaps in the supply chain, from transportation siloes to the lack of visibility into suppliers.

What Does the Labor Shortage Mean for Your Supply Chain?

Labor shortages exacerbate supply chain issues, creating a perfect storm for disruption. Here’s why it’s happening and what to do about it.

Vertical Focus: Electronics

The electronics industry has seen price hikes, supply chain shortages, an increase in global demand, and much more. Here’s the latest Vertical Focus on what’s happening in the electronics industry.

May 25, 2022 | Demand Planning | Food Logistics | Supply Chain

Parts and Parcels

Rony Kordahi is chief operating officer with Parts Town, a distributor of restaurant equipment parts.

May 24, 2022 | Big Data | Demand Planning | Inventory Management | Supply Chain

Designing a Soft Goods Supply Chain

Forecasting demand for soft goods can be difficult because demand changes due to fashion trends, weather patterns, and other factors. But artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies are changing the way soft goods manufacturers and retailers manage their supply chains.

Managing Working Capital Amid Product Shortages

Distributors can’t seem to catch a break. First they faced a liquidity squeeze when COVID-19 raged onto the scene, triggering a dislocation in the supply and demand for products. Now, as they enter the third year of the pandemic, distributors are grappling with wide-ranging shortages of goods and commodities across the supply chain that show no sign of abating.

May 19, 2022 | Cross-Docking | Demand Planning | Retail | Transportation Management

5 Tips for Finding the Right Retail Consolidation Solution

Using multiple vendors can leave you vulnerable to inefficiencies and higher transportation spend. Here’s how to find the right consolidator for your business. The planning and management that go into multivendor supply chains are an orchestration of many complex parts. The process for new and existing brands trying to get into big box retail requires […]

Vertical Focus: Exercise Equipment

Planet Fitness is one fitness club company that has thrived in recent years, growing from 918 locations in 2014 to more than 2,200 in 2021. FISCAL Fitness Here’s a sampling of statistics about the fitness equipment industry, compiled by RunRepeat and other sources, that helps to illustrate its status today. The fitness equipment industry is […]

Lean Isn’t Mean and Agile Isn’t Cheap

Back in 2014, I wrote a column extolling the benefits of a lean and agile supply chain, also known as a hybrid strategy. Depending on your product or service, your supply chain may tilt more one way or the other, or it might be segmented but still exhibit characteristics of both. For example, if you […]

Digital Transformation: The Experience is King

Over the holidays, my wife and I decided to give ourselves the gift of a new couch. Because I work in transportation and logistics, I knew that constraints up and down the supply chain easily could result in a long delivery lead time. So it was a pleasant surprise when the home furnishings company said to expect the couch in about three weeks.

Out of Stock? Hoarding is Not a Solution

Investing time and money in making products available is more important today than ever before, thanks to the ripple effects of COVID-19. Capacity constraints and delivery agents have been upended, and product availability is at risk. Rising digital trends and changing consumer behavior and spending habits have also led to an urgency to respond to market conditions quickly.

Artificial and Human Intelligence: An Unbeatable Combination

Investment in logistics technology—$26 billion in the past seven years—is white hot right now. Here’s a small sampling of the types of solutions that venture capitalists arefinancing: An artificial intelligence (AI)-driven demand-prediction engine that helps lifestyle brands forecast how many units of a particular item will sell. The mission? To better match global inventory levels […]

E-commerce Growth: Slower but Hefty

Even as growth slowed from 2020’s pandemic-fueled explosion in activity, the global e-commerce market still grew a robust 19.9% in 2021, according to Transport Intelligence (Ti). Indications are growth will slow but remain hefty. Ti’s market sizing and forecast data and analysis shows a projected annual growth rate of 11.8% in the global e-commerce logistics […]

Demand Planning

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