DEMAND PLANNING AND FORECASTING SESSION 2 Demand Management and Planning -the business perspective By K . Sashi Rao Management Teacher and Trainer
Dec 17, 2015
DEMAND PLANNING AND FORECASTING
SESSION 2
Demand Management and Planning-the business perspective
ByK . Sashi Rao
Management Teacher and Trainer
What is Demand Management? Demand Management is one that takes a
complete view of a business It means discovering markets, planning
products and services for those markets and then fulfilling these customer demands
It is an integrative set of business processes, across, not just the enterprise, but across all its trading partner network ( both customers and suppliers)
What does Demand Management involve? Discovering and understanding your market Establishing your customers needs and
expectations and what draws them to your business
Challenge of managing what, when, and how a product/service is designed, made, distributed, displayed , promoted and serviced
Doing the pricing and inventory optimization at various levels of market and channels segmentation
Satisfying customers on product, price, delivery and post-sales services
Managing Demand and Supply In any operating organization, it is
important to manage both demand and supply singly or together by:
Managing Demand thro various options Managing Supply thro various options All chosen options have their own
implications on customer service levels and different costs incurred
Managing Demand
Thro capacity reservation by shifting excess demand to a future period without losing it – by doing advance booking or appointments for future times
Thro differential pricing to reduce peak demands( higher prices e.g. movie tickets) or build demand in off-season by lowering prices/special discounts)
Thro advertising and sales promotions to even out demand patterns at different times( lower telecom rates for night use)
Thro complementary products to even out seasonal demand products – e.g. woolen and cotton garments; winter creams and suntan lotions; lawn mowers and snow ploughs
Managing Supply
Thro inventory based alternatives by building excess inventory during periods of lean demand and consuming them during peak demand times; or by shifting production to a future period beyond demand period; or deliberately inducing stock-outs leaving customers to wait longer; final choice depends on required customer service levels
Thro capacity adjustment alternatives by hiring/laying of workers; working extra hours and shifts; use of part time workers
Thro capacity augmentation means by outsourcing and/or subcontracting, rescheduling maintenance programs and by debottlenecking projects
Managing Demand and Supply Managing demand and/or supply involves choice
amongst many options with varying implications Some basic strategies to help make a choice are: Level strategy – not to disturb existing production
system at all; maintain a steady rate of regular time output while meeting demand variations largely thro inventories
Chase strategy – by matching capacity to demand and don’t carry inventories; planned output for a period is set at expected demand for that period( with lead-times built in e.g. Jan production for Feb needs); capacity related alternatives ( discussed earlier) used flexibly
Mixed strategy – use a combination of level and chase approaches
Managing Demand and Supply-cost implications
Alternative Cost Implication
Managing demand Capacity reservation Planning & scheduling costs
Influencing demand Marketing oriented costs
Managing supply Build inventory Inventory holding costs
Backlog/backorder/stock-out
Shortage/loss of goodwill
Overtime/under-time Overtime costs, Loss of productivity
Varying shifts Shift change costs
Hiring/layoff workers Training/hiring costs, employee morale
Subcontract/outsource Transaction costs
Debottlenecking/adding new capacity
Investment, debottlenecking costs
What is Demand Planning?(1) This is a subset of Demand Management It is a business planning process that enables
sales teams(and customers) to develop demand forecasts and inputs to feed various planning processes, production, inventory planning, procurement planning and revenue planning
Based on estimated product demand, a firm can plan for deployment of its resources to meet this demand
It is a bottom-up process as different from any top-down management process
What is Demand Planning?(2) It is also seen as a multistep operational SCM
process to create reliable demand forecasts Effective demand planning helps to improve
accuracy of revenue forecasts, align inventory levels in line with demand changes and enhance product-wise/channel-wise profitability
Its purpose can be seen as to drive the supply chain to meet customer demands thro effective management of company resources
What is Demand Planning?(3) For FMCG/retailing sectors, demand
planning takes a special meaning requiring integration of point-of-sale information to flow back to the manufacturer
Besides getting such customer level demand data thro distribution channel partners, key is to leverage it by maximizing success in forecasting efforts and accuracy( without normal distortions like the bull-whip effect)
Benefits of Demand Planning Higher service levels and more
responsive to actual demand Reduced stock levels and inventory
costs Improved purchase planning and
subsequent reduction in supply input costs
Enhanced capacity utilization of production facilities and logistics assets
Focused promotion and product planning/assortment/stocking levels at retail level for FMCG products
Forecasting Factors
Time required in future Availability of historical data Relevance of historical data into future Demand and sales variability patterns Required forecasting accuracy and likely
errors Planning horizon/lead time for operational
moves
Types of Forecasts
Economic Forecasts- projections of economic growth, inflation rates, money supply based on economic and fiscal data trends along with policy interventions
Demographic Forecasts- projections of population in aggregate and disaggregate form forecasts using birth and death rates in each case
Technological Forecasts- predicting technological change e.g. in cloud computing or electronics sectors et al
Other Forecasts- weather, earthquakes, tsunami et al Business Forecasts- involving demand and
sales forecasts – our primary interest in this DPF course
What is Demand Forecasting?(1) Demand Forecasting is predicting the
future demand for products/services of an organization
To forecast is to estimate or calculate in advance
Since forecasts are estimates and involve consideration of so many price and non-price factors, no estimate is necessarily 100% accurate
What is Demand Forecasting/(2) Demand forecasting involves estimating future overall
market demand for the proposed products/range This involves extensive market and marketing research
into existing and new markets, end applications, current market size and future demand potential, market segmentation, customer profiling/attitudes/preferences et al
Purpose is to finally help business decisions on how to cater to the overall market and plan its marketing mix and product-market positioning et al
Demand forecasting is essentially an outward/external looking process
Important as forms basis for sales forecasting operational planning and actions
Why Demand Forecasting?
To help decide on facility capacity planning and capital budgeting
To help evaluate market opportunities worthy of future investments
To help assess its market share amongst other competitors
To serve as input to aggregate production planning and materials requirement planning
To plan for other organizational inputs ( like manpower, funds and financing) and setting policies and procedures
Key Functions of Forecasting Its use as an estimation tool Way to address the complex and
uncertain business environment issues
A tool to predicting events related to operations planning and control
A vital prerequisite for the overall business planning process
Forecasting Characteristics By its very nature, forecasting always has
errors; forecasts rarely match actual demand/sales; forecast accuracy and errors are real issues
Their chosen time horizon also determines accuracy with shorter periods having higher accuracy; the constant need to reduce lead times also puts focus on shorter planning horizons( as in lean manufacturing/JIT environments)
Aggregate demand forecasts are more accurate than market segmental forecasts( e.g. all Maruti 800 cars versus red Maruti 800s; all paints versus blue color paints; all toothpastes versus herbal toothpastes); these have implications at different levels/stages of the supply chain
Forecasting Horizon-focus
Short term forecasts – say for next 1-2 months for current production planning and scheduling; for specific products, machine capacities and deployment, labor skills and usage, cash inventories ; operational focus
Medium term forecasts – say for next 3-12 months for plant level planning for product/volume changes requiring redeployment of resources; for product groups, departmental capacities, work force management, purchased materials and inventories; tactical focus
Long term forecasts – 1 year to 3 years for planning a new plant or facility requiring major investments and other resources for both new and old product lines; strategic focus
Forecasting Horizon- methodology
Short-term forecasting( 1 day to 3 months) for production planning needing disaggregated product forecasts with high accuracy levels; primarily uses time series data methods
Medium-term forecasting( 3 months to 12-24 months) useful for aggregate sales and operational planning; also for seasonal business operations; uses both time series and causal forecasting models
Long –term forecasting( beyond 24 months) useful for aggregate business planning for capacity and site/location decisions; uses judgment and causal models
Why Aggregate Production Planning?
Demand fluctuations - seasonal factors, uncertain environment et al
Capacity fluctuations – number of working days in month( 28-31; weekends/holidays; plant availability/maintenance schedules)
Production level changes – plant loading factors, materials and resources availability
Production planning has to be done to match demand and supply on a period-to-period basis in a cost effective manner
Forecasting for Business
Demand forecasting – to establish the current total size for any product/service market and its future growth potential and trends over time
Sales forecasting- required for a firm to plan its overall business operations within the overall market size and potential for its range of products
Product-life cycle forecasting- to assess the likely demand development and trends as they move from introduction -> growth-> maturity -> decline phases
All above forecasting types are to be looked at
Sales Forecasting
Within overall demand, firm needs to establish its sales forecast to help operations
Basis of sales forecasting is assessment of market share that firm can carve out of the total market given its past sales as also current marketing strategies
Firming up of sales forecasts is a function of available capacity, plant performance, plant resources and stocks
Sales forecasting is essentially an inward/internal process
Forecasting from now is seen from operational context
Demand Forecast and Sales Forecast(1)
Demand forecasts relate to the total demand for a product/service offered
Demand forecasts consider various factors influencing the overall demand for a product/service including economic and demographic factors, customer needs and expectations, market segmentation, disposable incomes et al
Sales forecasts are reflection of actual sales expected and consequent share of the total market demand
Sales forecasts also consider various supply-related specific company factors like capability, product range and capacity
Demand Forecast and Sales Forecast(2) It is important to understand separately the
need for demand and sales forecasts linked to their purpose
Demand forecasts are called for while doing market entry exercises and planning long term investments in new /added capacities
Sales forecasts are needed to provide the input basis for all production planning and supply chain operations
During this DPF course, demand and sales forecasts terms may be used interchangeably, but the clear distinction should be understood
Demand Forecasting Issues(1)
Forecasting is the deliberate attempt to predict the future- in all its dimensions !
Crystal ball gazing or making astrological predictions are also exercises in forecasting the future
Is both an art and science as based on significant behavioral and unstructured issues and an analytical exercise using scientific principles
Despite its limitations, essential for planned business operations
Demand Forecasting Issues(2)
All decisions need information about future circumstances
Best we can do is to forecast these circumstances
Since business decisions are driven by what the market needs, it is necessary to forecast market demand
Since operational decisions are driven by what their customers need, it is necessary to forecast expected sales
Demand Forecasting Issues(3)
• All factors influencing demand for a product or service have to
be first identified• These factors could be both price and non-price determinants of
demand( including consideration of substitutes and
complementary products) • Evolve a suitable methodology to assess these demand factors
and do quantitative and qualitative data analysis to arrive at
short term and long term demand estimates with identifiable
trends• Prepare such forecasts to assist both long term and short term
decision-making needs of an organization
7-30
Forecasting Role in a Supply Chain
Forms basis for all strategic and planning decisions in a supply chain
Used for both push and pull processes Examples:
Production: scheduling, inventory, aggregate planning Marketing: sales force allocation, promotions, new
production introduction Finance: plant/equipment investment, budgetary
planning Personnel: workforce planning, hiring, layoffs
All of these decisions are interrelated and part of aggregate production planning(APP)
Need for Collaborative Supply Chains
SCM integrates and optimizes the processes, but does not eliminate inherent conflict
SCM mostly remains an in-corporate initiative SCM does not address the total business
environment (different components of external value chain face different environments)
Hence, need for collaborative supply chains Thus, born concept of Collaborative Planning
and Forecast Replenishment( CPFR)
Forecasting Problems
Lack of understanding of integrated market and supply realities by key decision makers within an organization
Lack of trust and transparency amongst supply chain elements and partner organizations
Lack of proper communication, coordination and collaboration amongst supply chain partners
Lack of metrics for measuring total supply chain performance
Lack of IT tools, processes, professional competencies to achieve accurate forecasts
Forecasting Role in Decision-making
External andInternal Data
ObjectivesAnd
Constraints
ManagersForecasts
UpdatedForecasts
ActualPerformance
PlannedPerformance
Operations
Resources
Forecasting in Business PlanningInputsMarket ConditionsCompetitor ActionConsumer TastesProducts’ Life CycleSeasonCustomers’ plans
Economic OutlookBusiness Cycle StatusLeading Indicators-Stock Prices, Bond Yields, Material Prices, Business Failures, money Supply, Unemployment
Other FactorsLegal, Political, Sociological,Cultural
Forecasting Method(s)Or Model(s)
OutputsEstimated Demands for each Product in each Time PeriodOther Outputs
Sales ForecastForecast and Demand for Each Product In Each Time Period
Processor
Production CapacityAvailable ResourcesRisk AversionExperiencePersonal Values and MotivesSocial and Cultural ValuesOther Factors
Management Team
Forecast Errors
Feedback
Sales ForecastForecast and Demand for Each Product In Each Time Period
Procedure for Translating Sales Forecast into Production Resource Forecast
Business StrategyMarketing Plan- Advertising Sales Effort, Price, Past SalesProduction Plans- Quality Levels, Customer Service, Capacity CostsFinance Plan—Credit Policies, Billing Policies
Production Resource Forecasts Long Range
Factory capacitiesCapital FundsFacility NeedsOther
Medium RangeWork ForceDepartment CapacitiesPurchased MaterialInventoriesOthers
Short RangeLabor by Skill ClassMachine CapacitiesCashInventoriesOther
Processor