Read this blog to learn the 10 Supply Chain Planning terms you need to know in 2022.
Like any industry, Supply Chain Planning has a multitude of common – uncommon – terms. Here’s our take on ten terms that are building blocks for today’s successful supply chain planners. There will be more where these came from.
1. Advanced Analytics: The use of new mathematical tools and solutions aimed at turning data into insights. Solutions utilizing machine learning and AI offer processes that are more accurate, more reliable, and generate trusted forecasts
2. Demand Forecast: The process of using historical data and predictive analysis to make estimations about future customer demand over a defined period.
3. End-to-End Supply Chain Planning: The coordination of the entire supply chain process, from product design and procurement of raw materials to delivery of the final product and after-sale customer service.
4. Forecast Accuracy: The degree to which supply chain leaders successfully predict demand (in both the long- and short-term). Accuracy is critical because its downstream effects are far-reaching and can have unintended consequences.
5. Integrated Business Planning (IBP): The process of connecting business outcomes and strategies from across the business into financial and operational requirements, with the goal of maximizing profit, while minimizing risk.
6. Probabilistic Forecasting: A forecast is considered to be probabilistic when it contains a set of possibilities associated with possible future outcomes.
7. Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP): An integrated planning process that aligns demand, supply, and financial planning. S&OP is designed to support executive decision-making through a dynamic connection of plans and strategies across the business.
8. Scenario Modeling: The process of using possible future outcomes to continuously revise supply chain strategies, especially in times of extreme uncertainty.
9. Supply Chain Management (SCM): The process of creating and fulfilling demand for goods and services.
10. Supply Chain Planning (SCP): The forward-looking process of coordinating assets to optimize the delivery of goods, services, and information from supplier to customer, while balancing supply and demand.
Keep a lookout for the next installment – the second in the building blocks of our glossary – which will include terms like Collaborative Planning, Configurable Workflows, and Predictive Forecasts.
