Aberdeen Group Reveals Demand Management Best Practices For Discrete Manufacturers

John Galt Solutions, the leading provider of affordable planning solutions for the consumer-driven supply chain, recently announced the availability of a complimentary new report issued by Aberdeen Group entitled "Demand Management in Discrete Industries: Order to Delivery Excellence." This report discloses supply chain best practices shared by discrete manufacturers.

The recent benchmark report by Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company, focused on the demand management practices of more than 260 companies. Aberdeen's investigation showed that 70% of respondents have a focused demand management program in place. In fact, 31% of companies indicate that they have had a program in place longer than 4 years.

Aberdeen research finds that these companies need to refocus their attention towards order-to-delivery excellence as a driver for demand management rather than just concentrating on demand planning (statistical forecasting). Aspects that companies should focus on include external collaboration, customer level forecasting, and integration with order management.

Nari Viswanathan, research director of the supply chain and logistics practice for Aberdeen remarked, "The transformation to a global model is creating new supply chain challenges internally within OEMs and in their suppliers. Lead-time reduction and order to delivery excellence are key drivers for demand management in the discrete industries."

Aberdeen used three key performance criteria, namely finished goods inventory turns, average customer service level, and average forecast accuracy at the product family level to distinguish Best-in-Class companies from Industry Average and Laggard organizations. Results show that Best-in-Class companies are:

-- 3x more likely than all others to have a single view of demand with multiple views as inputs -- 2.5x more likely than all others to integrate order management tightly with the demand planning process -- 2x more likely than all others to segment demand forecasts based on key product-customer characteristics -- 3x more likely than all others to allocate forecasts down to the SKU level

Anne Omrod, CEO of John Galt Solutions adds, "Today demand planners struggle to create forecasts with spreadsheets that weren't designed to collect or manage all the information and input needed. With our Atlas Planning Suite, planners benefit from a comprehensive supply chain planning solution that offers more input via our S&OP process and Collaboration Portal, as well as more information using our new Point of Sale (POS) forecasting capabilities. Our customers benefit from the ability to further segment demand forecasts as well as allocate at the SKU level."

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen for insights that drive decisions.

About John Galt Solutions
John Galt Solutions helps increase forecast accuracy and optimize inventory levels in consumer-driven supply chains. With the ForecastX Wizard and the Atlas Planning Suite, we provide a wide range of affordable, easy to implement, supply chain planning solutions designed for growing mid-market companies. Over 5,000 customers have benefited from our deep industry expertise and innovative technologies. Industry leaders such as Bayer Crop Science, DuPont, Fidelity Investments, Hasbro Games, Huhtamaki, Sealy, Syngenta Crop Protection, and The Container Store have improved their bottom line through increased revenues and inventory cost reductions. To learn more please visit www.JohnGalt.com .

SOURCE: John Galt Solutions