Handling Seasonality

Generally, the further up the chain you go, more predictable the lead time. The article talks about how to ensure that you can handle the times when it is not predictable.

The problem most supply chains run into is that space restricts the last inventory points versus the variation in order size. The inventory demand filters down from truckload quantities to pallet quantities to case and then to eaches. Correspondingly, the inventory space allocated to the quantities is being positioned the same way. This is all well and good until the demand spikes.

There seem to be 3 basic areas where optimised replenishment needs to go in order to fully integrate with overall inventory control, management, and optimisation.

1. Developing consistent upstream reactions.
2. Have replenishment functionality better mimic the constraints and actions found in end-of-supply chain environments.
3. Have a better understanding of the constraints placed both on the logical and physical inventories so that the solution set considers not only natural replenishment, but limited space and limited supply.