In a global economy marked by fragile supply chains, scarce resources and rising energy costs, the spotlight is on forecasting to address these issues. In 2022, McKinsey & Company uncovered a staggering $600 billion annual food waste, equating to 33% – 40% of global food production, spotlighting the devastating consequences
Tag: forecasting
Even with today's technology, it's hard to know precisely when, where and how weather-related damage will occur. Flooding costs are expected to rise drastically during the next 20 years and climate change is a constant threat. Unfortunately, natural disasters are here to stay, but we can try our best to
When patients miss appointments, it costs providers money and has serious health impacts on patients. Analytics can help improve scheduling processes for more effective use of resources and to ensure patients receive the care they need. In isolation, it doesn’t seem that missing a doctor’s appointment is that big of
Often the biggest challenge when implementing a successful forecasting process has nothing to do with the analytics. Forecast adoption – incorporating forecasts into decision-making – is just as high a hurdle to overcome as the models themselves. Forecasting is more than analytical models Developing a forecasting process typically begins with
Outliers provide much-needed insights into the actual relationships that influence the demand for products in the marketplace. They are particularly useful when modeling consumer behavior where abnormalities are common occurrences or unforeseen disruptions that impact consumer demand. But why do demand planners cleanse out outliers, when many are not really
Ever heard of a Turducken? It's a chicken stuffed inside a duck that's stuffed inside a turkey along with layers of stuffing (which I just learned is referred to as a three-bird roast outside the US and Canada; there's also an English variant known as a gooducken, where the turkey
Rapid demand response forecasting techniques are forecasting processes that can incorporate key information quickly enough to act upon in real time by agile supply chains. Retailers and consumer goods suppliers are urgently trying to determine how changes in consumer behavior will affect their regions, channels, categories, brands and products during
How do you explain flat-line forecasts to senior management? Or, do you just make manual overrides to adjust the forecast? When there is no detectable trend or seasonality associated with your demand history, or something has disrupted the trend and/or seasonality, simple time series methods (i.e. naïve and simple
There's been a lot of hype regarding using machine learning (ML) for demand forecasting, and rightfully so, given the advancements in data collection, storage, and processing along with improvements in technology. There's no reason why machine learning can't be utilized as another forecasting method among the collection of forecasting methods
When it comes to forecasting new product launches, executives say that it's a frustrating, almost futile, effort. The reason? Minimal data, limited analytic capabilities and a general uncertainty surrounding a new product launch. Not to mention the ever-changing marketplace. Nevertheless, companies cannot disregard the need for a new product forecast