Manufacturers dream of a finely tuned supply chain, with finished goods landing softly on distributor and retailer loading docks at exactly the right time in precisely the right quantity. That can't be done, of course, without accurate demand forecasting — which still tends to be based on intuition, last year's sales numbers, and spreadsheet war games between sales and marketing groups. For most, the dream remains distant. But manufacturers finally have a shot at turning that fantasy into reality. The key is integrating POS (point-of-sale) data with modern demand-planning tools, which are just now coming together for the enterprise. Wal-Mart has led the way, providing its suppliers POS data per store, updated several times a day, allowing suppliers to adjust their-distribution, manufacturing, and marketing efforts based on what's actually selling and where.
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