Optimizing Inventory with Demand Planning
Katie Farrell, PBi's Supply Chain Manager, was recently interviewed by Landham Associates about using their Demand Planning System to track PBi's packaging inventory.
Q. Which Demand Planning features do you find most beneficial?
The vendor buying calendar and the item usage screen are key for us.
With this software, my home screen becomes a Demand Planning dashboard which I can use as a workbench. From the vendor buying calendar I can drill into my item card, procurement unit card, forecast, and item usage. I have all the information I need at my fingertips which makes Demand Planning user-friendly.
Previously we configured excel documents that pulled historical data out of NAV for the last six months and calculated a rolling average we used as a forecast. We saw significant improvements based on the forecasts Demand Planning was generating on its own.
The item usage screen is very important because it enables us to see the reasoning behind the forecast. For example, if we had a stockout, spike in sales, or unusual activity in general, we have the ability to make any necessary adjustments. The software will use these updated numbers for the forecast. Since we have started using this feature we have seen much more dependable forecasts and consistency.