Flowcasting the Retail Supply Chain: Slash Inventories, Out-Of-Stocks and Costs with Far Less Forecasting

Despite the myraid supply chain management approaches that have been spawned over the last decade or more, retailers have been unable to put a dent in out-of-stocks at store level, Why is that? Andre' Martin, Mike Doherty, and Jeff Harrop- all experienced practitioners, consultants, and implementation specialists in the field of time-phased supply chain planning - have been asking themselves the same question and have come to the conclusion that 1) far less forcasting is needed in the retail supply chain and 2) the only forecasting that needs to happen is at the store shelf. Flowcasting the Retail Supply Chain outlines a breakthrough approach for supply chain planning that mimics the natural flow of products from the factory to the consumer. It is the first and only approach that truly puts the consumer front and center when planning the supply chain.

Andre' Martin is a supply chain consultant and co-founder of Factory2Shelf Inc. He lives in Montreal with his wife Regina. Mike Doherty is a co-founder of Demand Clarity Inc, and specializes in helping clients design and implement supply chain planning processes and systems. He lives with his wife on a small farm near Walter's Falls, Ontario. Jeff Harrop is a supply chain consultant and founding parnter of Demand Clarity Inc. He lives in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada with his wife Kristen and children Jacob, Sydney, and Mitchell.