Particularly in the current climate of uncertainty and disruption, many organizations are struggling to look out beyond the next one or two months because most of their time is consumed dealing with issues and challenges that need to be resolved today. This, however, isn’t a new phenomenon. We all love heroes. Fire fighting is aContinue reading “Planning and Execution – Planning the Sale and Selling the Plan”
Author Archives: Greg Spira
Category Forecasting and Demand Planning
Demand Planning organizations often spend most of their time on planning the products they sell to the customers that they sell them to. That should not come as any great surprise, but to those of you spending most of your time in this space, I would invite you to step back out of the weedsContinue reading “Category Forecasting and Demand Planning”
Top Down or Bottom Up?
A concept that I often find people struggle with is that while in the past, the total is always equal to the sum of the parts, in the future that isn’t always the best way to approach things. When we look at sales history, the total sales volume is equal to the sum of theContinue reading “Top Down or Bottom Up?”
Demand Planning is Building Bridges
A key principle in Demand Planning (and more broadly, Integrated Business Planning) is that we have a plan until we decide to change it. It’s an important principle because just like in a team sport, at any given point in time the players need to know what the game plan is. There can’t be confusion,Continue reading “Demand Planning is Building Bridges”
Demand Planning – Constrained or Unconstrained?
Whether to constrain the demand plan can be a tricky topic. We say that the best practice is to plan unconstrained demand, but what does that mean, exactly? The difference between constrained and unconstrained demand pertains to our ability to meet and satisfy that demand with our planned supply capabilities. Unconstrained demand does not meanContinue reading “Demand Planning – Constrained or Unconstrained?”
Accuracy or Ownership: Which is more important?
In one of my previous posts, I wrote about the Demand Planning function having a wide range of homes in the org chart. Where the Demand Planning team resides organizationally, however, does not necessarily define where the demand plan is owned. Much like in a RACI framework, the role that is Responsible for doing theContinue reading “Accuracy or Ownership: Which is more important?”
Demand Planning and Demand-Driven (DDMRP) – Better Together?
I noted in a previous post that language can be confusing when it comes to planning, and I have to say that we don’t do ourselves any favours. From time to time I come across discussions that pit DDMRP (Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning) and traditional Demand Planning against one another and judging by theContinue reading “Demand Planning and Demand-Driven (DDMRP) – Better Together?”
Demand Planning – Nomads of the Org Chart
Much like Godwin’s law, as any discussion about Demand Planning grows longer, the probability of debating where it fits in the organization approaches 1. This week, like any other normal week, I’ve had at least three discussions with clients or partners that touched on or directly addressed the topic of where Demand Planning sits inContinue reading “Demand Planning – Nomads of the Org Chart”
Who are the customers of the Demand Plan?
When we use the term customers in the context of demand planning, most often we are talking about the people that buy our products and services. However, it is equally important to think about the internal customers of the demand plan – the functions within your company that rely on the demand plan as aContinue reading “Who are the customers of the Demand Plan?”
Go Get’s, Gap Fillers, Plugs, and other Bad Behaviors
In one of my earlier posts, I stressed the point that eliminating Bias in the demand plan is critical to establish trust in it. Without trust, the plan is second-guessed or disregarded. Acknowledging that point, however, does not give leadership much comfort when the demand plan falls short of business objectives. Providing visibility to thatContinue reading “Go Get’s, Gap Fillers, Plugs, and other Bad Behaviors”
