Estimating demand for a supply chain according to order lead time

摘要

In one embodiment, estimating demand for a supply chain includes accessing a probability distribution for expected order lead time of the supply chain. The supply chain has nodes including a starting node and an ending node and a path from the starting node to the ending node. The probability distribution for expected order lead time describes ending node demand for the ending node versus order lead time. The path is divided into order lead time segments, and the order lead time segments are associated with the probability distribution for expected order lead time by associating each order lead home segment with a corresponding order lead time range of the probability distribution for expected order lead time. A demand percentage is estimated for each order lead time segment in accordance with the probability distribution for expected order lead time in order to estimate demand for the supply chain. Each demand percentage describes a percentage of a total ending node demand associated with the corresponding order lead time segment.