Demand Forecasting Meets Supply Chain Action

Sept. 11, 2020

Blue Ridge, a leader in supply chain planning and pricing solutions, announced the general availability of Supply Chain Planning 180. Release 180 leverages machine learning and AI-enhanced features that unlock the science behind demand sensing capabilities—Demand Classification Enhancement, Intermittent Demand Forecasting, and Intelligent Min/Max Replenishment.

 

Blue Ridge Supply Chain Planning Release 180 includes:

  • Demand Classification Enhancement takes advantage of demand patterns, including product lifecycle while considering demand sparsity, volatility, and velocity. The Demand Classification process is now being used to drive additional decision processes in forecasting, eliminating the need for buyers to re-run seasonal profiles.
  • Intermittent Demand Forecasting (IDF) separates demand hits and varying spaces, providing a robust/stable forecast, more consistent safety stock, and less overreaction to zero demand forecasts.
  • Intelligent Min/Max (IMM) Replenishment is a fundamentally different approach to deal with intermittent and slow-moving SKUs. Instead of the forecast approach, IMM approaches the problem from the service and inventory levels to support the customer experience perspective, while making it easier to auto-manage long-tail items for a better in-stock and service level.

 

Blue Ridge Cloud-Native Supply Chain Planning creates fully configured orders and economically optimized company goals for up to 24 months in advance. These precise order projections are completely automated without user intervention and adhere to order schedules, SKU level rounding requirements, and order level constraints. The solution predicts daily store demand, distribution center demand, receipts, and on-hand inventory to create the optimal plan considering the unique dynamics of every item, location, channel, and supplier.