It is difficult to arrive at one fixed number of SKUs that a forecaster can manage, because situations vary from industry to industry and company to company. There are several factors at play. It depends on how easy or difficult it is to forecast, what the lead time is, the cost of forecast error, whether forecasts are prepared on an aggregate or granular level, type of data used, whether ABC classification is used to allocate forecasting time, whether customers’ input are used in reconciling forecasts, and/or the sophistication of technology used to generate forecasts.

Table of contents:

1. How Easy or Difficult to Forecast
2. Cost of Forecast Error
3. Level of Aggregation Required
4. Type of Data Used
5. Segmentation / ABC Classification
6. State of Technology
7. Survey Results
8. Conclusion
9. Table 1 | Number of Skus Per Forecaster by Size of Company
10. Table 2 | Number of Skus Per Forecaster by Total Number of Skus at the Company