Innovation in Sales Sell More, Cut Costs: Ronald Teijken Explains How Automation Plus E-Commerce Channels Equal Profit for Manufacturers (Forecasting & Planning‪)‬

Manufacturers are facing difficult conditions as they prepare for the economic upturn. Suffering under the pressures of growing pricing constraints, excess inventories and hiring freezes during the past 2 years, manufacturers have nevertheless needed to gradually increase production capacity - while maintaining lean inventory levels - to prepare for rising demand. Meanwhile, multiple market segments, sales channels and sources of supply, plus varying pricing and promotions rules and different underlying IT systems all combine to create a complex supply chain environment. This complexity is compounded by volatility caused by wider business factors such mergers and acquisitions, different production strategies in both outsourcing and insourcing, variations in demand patterns as well as regulation, and supply chain disruptions following natural disasters or other unforeseen events. I see manufacturers that previously depended on forecasting methods to plan their business now required to act and react quickly in response to these schizophrenic sales and economic trends, and no longer able to rely on long-term planning models. In this new, volatile and complex environment, the focus must be on the customer, understanding and responding to their expectations. Meeting Customer Expectations in a Multichannel Environment