Is WMAPE Over-Rated As An Organizational KPI?
Many are taking shots at the very thought of measuring Forecasts itself leave alone with WMAPE. And some are taking shots at the discipline of Forecasting itself. If forecasting is … Read More
Author: Dr. Chockalingam
Dr. Mark Chockalingam is the founder and President of Demand Planning LLC, a Business Process and Strategy Consultancy helping clients across industries: Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Products, Chemicals and Fashion Apparel. His specialty consulting areas include Sales forecasting, Supply Chain Analytics, and Sales and Operations Planning. He has conducted numerous training and strategy facilitation workshops for a variety of clients in the US and abroad. Mark has worked with a variety of companies from the Fortune 500 such as Wyeth, Miller SAB, FMC, Teva to the small and medium size companies such as Au Bon pain, Multy Industries, Ticona, a divison of Celanese AG. With significant expertise in business forecasting and modeling, he is a frequent speaker at major supply chain events on topics ranging from demand management to sales and operations planning. Prior to establishing his consulting practice, Mark has worked with manufacturing companies in important supply chain positions. Mark was Director of Market Analysis and Demand Planning for the Gillette Company, now part of Proctor and Gamble. Before Gillette, Mark led the Suncare, Footcare and OTC forecasting processes for Schering-Plough Consumer HealthCare in Memphis. Mark has a Ph. D. in Finance from Arizona State University, an MBA from the University of Toledo and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Can We Combine The Role of Demand Planning And Supply Planning Into One Role?
The Planner! Sounds like a movie title – the movie we have not seen and Pixar has not thought of…. What is the major advantage of uniting the two roles … Read More
Sales Planning – What Is Their Value Add?
Who are Sales Planners? Do you have a function called Sales Planning in your organization? Most companies have a Sales support function called Sales Planning or Sales Logistics or even … Read More
The Bitcoin Is Not A Coin Anymore – It Is The Modern Version of The Dutch Tulip!
The Bitcoin has just breached 14K. One bitcoin is worth 14,000 US Dollars as of the close of the market on December 6th. It was trading at 12K a couple … Read More
Supply Chain Transformation for Pharma
I facilitated an S&OP Discussion Panel for pharmaceutical and Biotech executives last week.
Cross-section of diverse experiences from small and large pharma companies. The report card when it comes to S&OP is not very good. We need to make great strides towards streamlining Sales and Operations Planning process in Pharma for both clinical supply chains as well as commercial supply chains.
Measuring Forecast Error – Constrained or Unconstrained Forecast?
Is it better to correct the actual sales for supply constraints and come up with a version of the actual demand that is unconstrained?
Measurement is an ex-post event that should not affect the actual forecasting process. If the Sales force is encouraged to think about a constrained forecast, the organization will lose visibility to the true unconstrained demand.
One option will be to use a disciplined process to measure true demand every month and evaluat the unconstrained forecast with this version of true demand.
Measuring Customer Service – Is Variety Causing Confusion?
There is confusion on the variety of measures used for measuring customer service. Let us survey the different metrics and get an input on how it is measured and what are the issues.
What To Measure or Forecast Accuracy – SKU/DC, SKU/National, SKU/Plant?
Although most demand planners and COE professionals understand the mechanics of these measures, there is some confusion on what to measure and why.
Measurement depends on what you are trying to drive – what you are using the forecast for? So level of aggregations matter as well. We explain some examples on what circumstances drive which measures.
Role of Sales Planning in Supply Chain Transformation
Developing a process and system to do event modeling for promotional programs is the holy grail that will spark of the interest of the Sales groups in fully integrating with the S&OP process. In summary, Sales Planning functions are critical for better Sales Management as well as for an effective S&OP process.
Are You Still Using Excel For Forecasting And Planning?
Some of the big names who have used our services and expertise include Honeywell, Pepsi Foods, Brown-Forman, Labatt, Yaskawa, Coleman, McCain Foods, Lindt and many other small and medium size companies.
We can be reached at www.demandplanning.net. You can also contact our Business Development Manager at hatimr@demandplanning.net . We would be glad to have an initial call for a short diagnostic of the current processes and pain points.