Forecasting in Flux: Importance of Supply Chain Flexibility
Lisa Anderson of LMA Consulting Group was quoted in a Harvard Business Review report about supply chain volatility and uncertainty that are part of the new normal.
Case Study: Strategies to Successfully Navigate Inflation
As originally published in Brushware Magazine on Sept/ Oct 2022. Inflation continues to plague the world with escalating prices across a spectrum of products and services. The price of oil and gas has continued to rise and supply chain challenges persist, creating inflationary pressures across the board. Even though [...]
Using ERP & Related Technologies to Automate, Digitize & Thrive
Manufacturers utilize less than 20% of the full functionality of their ERP systems. But the key question is, why does it matter? In today’s inflationary and supply chain disrupted business environment, manufacturers need to automate and digitize to ‘do more with less’ and thrive during these volatile times. One important way to achieve this goal is to further leverage your ERP system where it will make a difference.
Upgrade Demand Planning Processes & Software to Navigate Economic Challenges
During times of volatility including inflation and recession, forecasting future sales becomes even more vital than it is during regular business cycles. Emerging from the pandemic, the global markets have experienced rising costs and significant demand. In the U.S. [...]
Do You Need Software to be Successful with S&OP?
As clients become interested in S&OP (Sales & Operations Planning), also known as SIOP (Sales, Inventory, and Operations Planning) to get in front of customer requirements while simultaneously increasing margins and profits, executives want to know if software is required to support S&OP success. Is Software Required to Support [...]
Navigating Current Global Business Challenges with SIOP & Demand Volatility
Lisa Anderson was interviewed by Lucie Newcomb for the podcast series “Staying Global While Staying Home”. They addressed the topic of the state of the global supply chain and strategies to successfully navigate with Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP / SIOP) with an emphasis on getting a handle on demand volatility. [...]
WBSRocks: Business Growth with ERP and Digital Transformation
Sales and operations planning is a dark art, and most organizations typically have a very ad-hoc process of forecasting due to its nature. But it's critical to be directionally correct with your plan. Or you might end up missing opportunities or losing customers. [...]
Creating Predictable Revenue with Demand Planning Best Practices
Predicting the Unpredictable Every client believes their demand cannot be predicted. After all, customers don't know what is going on in their end-to-end supply chain with the global supply chain chaos. Sales teams are optimistic and either forecast too much, hoping Operations will produce and store "just in case" [...]
Shortages Impacting Revenue & Forecasts
2021 was plagued with shortages. As discussed in clients’ demand planning/ forecasting meetings, history is not representative of the future. In one example, the client experienced material shortages and couldn’t sell what customers requested, and so carrying that forecast into the New Year would deliberately carry that issue into 2022.
Sales Forecasts are Rising Fast. Do You Have Capacity?
Clients are growing quickly. No matter the industry and company size, clients and colleagues are seeing growth. The only question is how quickly and whether they can keep up. Capacity constraints are popping up everywhere. On the logistics front, Southern California has no available space; the ports are backlogged, prices are rising [...]