It is 2020; we now have reasonably accurate short-term weather forecasts. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the US, reports that the five-day weather forecasts are approximately 90 percent accurate, 80 percent for the next seven-days, establishing an acceptable level of accuracy for this crucial external input for supply chain planning, especially short-term […]
Machine learning engines can take data on forecast accuracy and use that data to automatically improve the forecast model. However, three is a rub. Lost sales is a key piece of data on the accuracy of the forecast, but lost sales is generated with a demand forecast. This is circular reasoning. But that does not mean this analysis is without value.
Machine learning has become hot this year. Supply chain software suppliers are investing in improving their software’s capabilities by using machine learning. But machine learning in supply chain software is not new.
How confident are you in your ability to predict future customer demand? How do external factors such as economics and weather influence that demand next month or next year?? If you’re uncertain how to account for changing demand, how can you confidently design your supply chain to support your customers in the future? Without demand […]
If demand management teaches us anything about learning to leverage the Big Data generated by sensors, it is that leveraging IoT data is likely to be a lengthy maturation process.
One of my favorite parts of being an analyst and a columnist for Logistics Viewpoints, aside from expounding on omni-channel retail and supply chain logistics trends and technologies, is the opportunity to learn. As much as I may know about supply chain logistics, there is always room to learn. I learn from my peers, and […]
Over a decade ago, trade journals were talking about smart grocery carts. These grocery carts would have a computer attached to it that could assist consumers in shopping by providing coupons, the location of an item the shopper wants to buy, and even an accelerated check out process if the shopper scanned the items into […]
