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Planning

BusinessPlanning

Multi Echelon Inventory Optimization Models

Safety stock is a level of inventory that is held to protect against unexpected demand or delays in supply. It is an important part of inventory management, and it can help to prevent stockouts and lost sales. Multi-echelon inventory optimization is the process of determining the optimal level of safety stock to hold at each level of a supply chain. This can be a complex task, as it involves balancing the costs of carrying inventory with the costs of stockouts. There are a number of factors to consider when optimizing multi-echelon safety stock, including: The demand for the product The…
Sriram Parameswaran
May 1, 2023
BusinessPlanning

Why do machine learning algorithms need training data set before predictions?

Training data is a crucial component in the development of machine learning and data science algorithms. It serves as the foundation upon which models are built, and allows the algorithms to learn patterns, relationships, and rules that they can then use to make predictions or classify new data. In more technical terms, training data is used to train a machine learning model, which is essentially a mathematical function that maps input data to output data. During training, the algorithm iteratively adjusts the parameters of the model based on the input data and the desired output, so that it can make…
Sriram Parameswaran
April 26, 2023
man reading newspaper while sitting near table with smartphone and cupBusinessPlanning

Planning for uncertainty, responding with agility

“We have implemented Integrated Business Planning (IBP) but our performance doesn’t seem to be improving, why is it not working?”   This is a common frustration for many organizations that have embarked on the journey of IBP to obtain this miraculous alignment between supply and demand only to be left with minimal performance improvement.  In the early days of an IBP implementation the focus is hyperinflated on the business’s ability to demand plan within reasonable level of accuracy and eliminating bias, however determining the reasonable level of accuracy can often be subjective.   A supply chain manager that expects 98% accuracy in…
Debbie Evans
May 5, 2021
Planning

What happens when there is no supply plan?.

Stripping back all the frills and thrills you are left with the core purpose of IBP; to converge, align and integrate the financial plan, demand plan and supply plan. So, what happens when the supply plan changes daily, that is, there really is no static supply plan? However absurd this might sound, it’s not as uncommon as perhaps you might think. For business with large SKU proliferation, servicing a large distribution network or customer base, typical of FMCG organizations or OEM aftermarket channels, it is not unusual to allow orders to flow directly into the production planning processes. Perhaps, there…
Kim Britton
April 7, 2021