A recent article in i2’s Supply Chain Leader on how resilient companies can manage demand when the past is not a reliable indicator of the future had a great table that compared and contrasted demand tactics and strategies in stable vs. volatile economies that did a great job of summarizing the demand management strategies you need to weather the storm.
The following points from Recession-Resistant Demand Management Strategies and Tactics in particular are key:
- level and seasonality in volatile economy are best determined from the last 2-3 months, not 2-3 years
- constantly look for patterns that are different from expectations and make adjustments quickly
- it’s not just about consensus forecasting — triangulate multiple scenarios across functions against leading and trailing indicators to come up with near real-time forecasts
- combine and push-and-pull strategies to get the best results
- monitor continuously … today’s patterns will not be tomorrow’s