As the industry braces itself for another tough year and a new way of doing business, Supply Chain continues to be a focus area for manufacturers and retailers alike. Businesses are increasingly focusing on building supply chain flexibility in order to better manage the demand volatility and variability, as well as to build greater responsiveness in the supply chain.

To deliver higher service levels, companies are continuing to focus on improving their Forecasting & Demand Planning. A good forecast helps set correct inventory levels and has been identified as one of the root-causes affecting the waste generated by the industry.

This Hot Topic report, presented in three parts, will help you address the following:

Part I: The Changing Roles

• Why should you invest in improving your Forecasting & Demand Planning?
  
  
• What are the benefits that can be achieved?
  
  
• What skills will Demand Planners need to drive performance?
  
  

Part II: Improving your Forecast Accuracy

• What is Forecast Accuracy? How is it measured?
  
  
• What are category-level benchmarks for Forecast Accuracy?
  
  
• What are the challenges to achieving higher levels of Forecast Accuracy and what are the top five strategies the best businesses are using to overcome these challenges?
  
  

Part III: Building Best-in-class Capabilities

• What does ‘excellence’ look like in forecasting & demand planning?
  
  
• What capabilities do you need to build excellence and where are the performance gaps in the industry?
  
  
• What improvements are the best-in-class companies focusing on?