Forecast & Demand planning with greater accuracy
Businesses depend upon reliable forecasting and demand planning in order to make informed inventory decisions. However, when you consider that a robust forecast must take into account a whole range of factors including emerging trends and seasonality as well as volatility, demand for some products is far more difficult to forecast in comparison to other. As a result, gaining accurate insights for even a small number of items can be a real challenge!
Demand Profiling
Through analyzing demand patterns at all levels and taking into account a range of demand metrics, Slim4 enables businesses to create objective profiles which ensure only the most appropriate algorithm is applied. In order achieve the best possible forecast, demand profiling within Slim4 is underpinned by:
- Analysis of demand at a SKU, product group, location or channel level
- Analysis of total sales volumes, frequency of sales, sales quantities as well as individual transactions
Statistical forecasting
With more than 25 statistical algorithms to choose from, Slim4 automatically identifies and applies the forecasting method or combination of algorithms which best fits the given demand profile. To ensure the best results, Slim4 ensures:
- The latest trends are always taken into account
- Demand profiles remain dynamic to always achieve the best statistics
- Automatic selection of most appropriate forecasting method (so no need for a PHD in math!)
Seasonality & trends
Given that over 50% of all items have some sort of seasonal demand pattern, it’s vital these trends are constantly tracked and forecasts adjusted accordingly. To ensure the optimal level of stock before, during & after a seasonal uplift, even for items with long lead times, Slim4’s powerful forecasting capabilities supports:
- Option to adjust seasonal forecasts automatically or manually
- Seasonal demand patterns to be copied from predecessor or product hierarchies
- All seasonal demand fluctuations taken into account (not just summer/winter shifts)
Promotions management
With promotions accounting for up to 40% of overall turnover, management of promotional items must be rigorous. While ordering too much stock will tie up valuable working capital and could cause high levels of obsolescence at the end of the promotion, ordering too little will result in lost sales opportunities and disappointed customers. Slim4 maximizes sales potential while minimizing risks through:
- Continually monitoring promotional items to identify over & underperforming lines
- Automatically building stock based upon the promotional forecast
- Enabling easy scaling of underlying locations (shops/ regional warehouses or customer groups) to optimize allocation of promotional stock
- Isolating promotional demand to prevent contamination of demand history
Event management
Special events such as Christmas and Easter present businesses a huge opportunity to profit. However, with only a small window in which to make sales, Slim4 ensure planning teams prepare for supply chain events through:
- Pin-pointing specific day or date to calculate demand lift before and after an event
- Factor in shut down dates
- Automatically taking in account emerging trends based upon product hierarchy
- Continually monitoring promotional items to identify over & underperforming lines
- Automatically building stock based upon the promotional forecast
- Enabling easy scaling of underlying locations (shops/ regional warehouses or customer groups) to optimize allocation of promotional stock
- Isolating promotional demand to prevent contamination of demand history
New product introduction and End of life items
Creating a forecast for a new items can be extremely difficult. Likewise, at the end of the product life cycle, businesses often struggle to forecast demand with the level of accurately required to make informed decisions. To ensure accurate forecasting throughout the entire product life-cycle, Slim4 covers the following:
- Building forecasts based upon predecessor/ successor product relationships
- Developing seasonal profiles based upon product hierarchies
- Additional responsive during introductory phase of product life cycle
Management by exception to focus your attention
When you consider that a robust forecast must take in a broad range of dynamic factors, business must be able to continually update forecasts in line with the ever-changing market. With the “Management by Exception” principles of the solution, Slim4 enables planning teams to work efficiency and with focus in order to proactively manage potential issues.
- Automated forecasts for up to 90% of all items allowing planners to focus their knowledge and experience where it is really required
- Automated notifications to inform users of items which require attention ensuring
- 20 different exceptions our consultants can help you define and help tailor a response
Optimized forecasting across the entire network
Visibility over anticipated demand can easily become blurred as supply chain become increasingly more complex. When it comes to managing multi-channel environments with many levels, channels and locations, the goal is always to achieve the best possible level of service while minimizing the overall supply chain costs.
- Slim4 reviews which items to stock, where best to stock these items and in what quantities based upon the give service levels
- Slim4 supports a multitude of top level forecasting methods which are applied depending on the specific business requirements
Bill of materials with Slim4
When it comes to kitting & assembly, it vital that businesses have visibility over demand of all required components whether that be dependent or independent. Slim4 has the capability to utilize a comprehensive bill of materials ensuring:
- Raw material and semi-finished components are ordered at the optimal moment in the right quantity
- BOM takes into account longest lead time to minimize risk of bottle necks
Production planning
In production environments, businesses face a high degree of complexity when it comes to forecasting demand for the finished good as well as the requirement for any component. Slim4 supports kitting, assembly, and production environments through helping businesses achieve a reliable production plan based upon the following:
- Slim4 supports a multitude of top level forecasting methods which are applied depending on the specific business requirements
- Optimal batch sizes based upon economic order quantity factoring in machine conversion costs
Aggregation versus disaggregation of demand
To track statistical patterns and provide insight into emerging trends seasonality & forecast changes, Slim4 has the capability to analyze data both from the bottom-up and the top-down, tracking all data at the lowest possible level.
- Gain valuable insight in to demand
- Track statistical patterns (trends, seasonality, forecast changes) at a variety of hierarchical levels
Size curve planning
In certain environments such as fashion where many products come in a variety of size-color-style combinations, size curve planning is extremely important. However, given that every location will have its own unique demand profile, size-curve planning is fraught with complexity. In order to maximize margins when an item is in season and to minimize mark down at the end of the season, Slim4’s capabilities enable:
- Size-curve planning at the lowest possible level: on size-color-style basis for every location
- For every transaction, Slim4 registers the sales price against the retail price as well whether the size curve was used in order to optimize future forecasting
Accurate forecasting with Slim4
Our inventory optimization tool, Slim4, has been designed and built to forecast future demand with the highest possible level of accuracy. As a result, supply chain teams can anticipate demand with confidence!
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