The Role Of Life Cycles And Forecast Horizons In A Forecasting System: Reebok's Perspective

FORECASTERS' VIEWPOINT Charles W. Chase, Jr., Editor Forecast Process Manager / Director, Coca-Cola Company THE ROLE OF LIFE CYCLES AND FORECAST HORIZONS IN A FORECASTING SYSTEM: REEBOK’S PERSPECTIVE Vikram Saran, Forecasting Manager, Reebok Apparel Product life cycles and forecast horizons are often assumed to go together. To view it as such in an integrated supply chain management system could create problems, especially in industries with high SKU-count and high turnover product lines. The issue extends beyond system semantics. Life cycles and forecast horizons can impact a host of functional areas in the supply chain. Therefore, systems require the capability to recognize the effect of product life cycles and forecast horizons on each other, the impact of different products on the life cycle and forecast of an individual product, and on other functional areas of the supply chain. The two issues relating to life cycle definition, are: a) From a systems point of view, product life cycles and forecast horizons are not always synonymous. b) The life cycle of one product or one group can affect the life cycle and forecast of another. BACKGROUND Reebok Apparel products consist ...