The Art and Science of Demand and Supply Chain Planning in Today’s Complex Global Economy

The demand and supply chain planning process for manufacturers, distributors, and retailers has evolved over the years. It has gone from a disjointed, unconnected, slow, inaccurate, fairly manual set of processes to an integrated, timely process enable by the use and coordination of highly trained people, lean agile processes and cutting-edge technology. To make this set of processes to work effectively, one has to fully understand and appreciate that there is an art and science aspect to the process which can take years of education and experience to fully understand. Essentially, this book will offer the reader a chance to fully understand the interconnected set of processes in a best practice application. Furthermore, examples and cases will be used to illustrate its practical application in today’s complex Global Supply Chain. In addition, readers will understand and be able to apply and articulate the concepts, tools and techniques used in the efficient supply of goods and services in today’s changing global economy. It will help them to learn how businesses, through their supply chain, work both internally and with its trading partners - both upstream and downstream - to build strong relationships and integrate demand and supply planning activities across the supply chain to efficiently and effectively deliver customer value. They will learn about tools and technologies enabling integration, and the critical drivers and key metrics of supply chain performance.