Teradata

Exciting products and popular lines can do wonders for your business. There’s only one potential drawback: consumers can only buy what you have in stock.

Without an accurate consumer demand forecast, you’re simply guessing at a product’s true potential. Inaccurate forecasts lead to weaker profits. Weaker profits have sparked the search for an inventory management system that can improve bottom line performance.

That search is over. The Teradata® Demand Forecasting for Demand Chain Management (DCM) module puts you on the path to increased sales, decreased inventory – and more accurate forecasting capabilities.

The Teradata Demand Forecasting for DCM module is exactly what its name implies – a best in class forecasting solution that allows you to:

• Respond to local customer demand on a store/SKU basis
• Increase service levels at stores and distribution centers
• Drive turns by reducing unneeded safety stock

Teradata Demand Forecasting considers both an item’s seasonality (its performance over an annual cycle) and its rate of sales (sales trend) to generate an accurate forecast at any level of the product and location hierarchy. The module automatically generates seasonal profiles using up to four years of history by continuously comparing historical to current demand, then automatically selecting the most accurate of six separate forecast methods.

Generating responsive forecasts rests on your ability to accurately calculate recent trends or the Average Rate of Sale (ARS). Teradata Demand Forecasting for DCM consists of six separate ARS models calculated by the system weekly at the product/location level. The six algorithms include 3-week, 6-week, 12-week, 26-week, and 52-week adaptive models, plus a 52-week model with exponential smoothing. In addition, Teradata provides you with the ability to add your own defined forecasting methods and formulas.

Once the ARS calculations are complete, our forecasting engine chooses the appropriate model for the next forecasting period, based on the lowest Average Forecast Error (AFE). This unique offering allows Teradata to provide you and your business with the highest forecast accuracy on the market. You can then feed these forecasts into your current replenishment system or into our Automated Replenishment solution.

Teradata also offers you a sophisticated exception management solution that reports everything from potential out-of-stock, out-of-stock, over-stock, and customer service levels to forecast errors, strong items and dying items. We’ll identify each SKU/location combination that’s been recorded as an exception in time for you to take appropriate action. 

The on-line, user-defined business policies let you tailor actions to meet your business strategies, anywhere in the merchandise location hierarchy. Teradata Demand Forecasting for DCM brings you an array of built-in benefits, including:

• An average increase in sales of 7% to 10%
• An average reduction of slow moving inventory from 25% to 40%
• Improved turns
• Increased profitability

To find out more about how the Teradata Demand Chain Management solution and its Demand Forecasting module can help you grow a better, more productive business, contact your Teradata representative or visit Teradata.com/dcm.