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Lecture

Demand Forecasting: Methods and Steps

In course

ME-419: Production management

Production management deals with producing goods sustainably at the right time, quantity, and quality with the minimum cost. This course equips students with practical skills and tools for effectively managing demand, supply, and implementing advanced anal ...

Description

This lecture covers topics such as demand management, forecasting methods, and steps involved in demand forecasting. It discusses the importance of demand disruption, dynamics, flows, and the elements of a good demand forecast. The instructor also explains the process of data analysis, forecasting methods, and the significance of accurate and timely forecasts.

Instructor

Amin Kaboli

Dr. Amin Kaboli is an external lecturer for at the Mechanical Engineering Section at EPFL and teaches Production Management (ME-419), Continuous Improvement (ME-498) to graduate students and Digital Supply Chain, Innovation and Digitization, and Sustainable Change Leadership to business executives and managers at International Institute for the Management of Logistics and Supply Chain (IML). Amin supports many organizations ranging from Fortune 500 corporations to entrepreneurial firms and industries as diverse as Watch, Consumer Goods, Food and Beverage, MedTech, and Pharma. He obtained his Ph.D. in Manufacturing Systems & Robotics, specialized in Supply Chain Management from EPFL. You can watch his TEDx talk on “Leading Change Consciously” here. TEDx talk here.

Official source

Related concepts (19)

Demand forecasting

Demand forecasting refers to the process of predicting the quantity of goods and services that will be demanded by consumers at a future point in time. More specifically, the methods of demand forecasting entail using predictive analytics to estimate customer demand in consideration of key economic conditions. This is an important tool in optimizing business profitability through efficient supply chain management. Demand forecasting methods are divided into two major categories, qualitative and quantitative methods.

Forecasting

Forecasting is the process of making predictions based on past and present data. Later these can be compared (resolved) against what happens. For example, a company might estimate their revenue in the next year, then compare it against the actual results creating a variance actual analysis. Prediction is a similar but more general term. Forecasting might refer to specific formal statistical methods employing time series, cross-sectional or longitudinal data, or alternatively to less formal judgmental methods or the process of prediction and resolution itself.

Economic forecasting

Economic forecasting is the process of making predictions about the economy. Forecasts can be carried out at a high level of aggregation—for example for GDP, inflation, unemployment or the fiscal deficit—or at a more disaggregated level, for specific sectors of the economy or even specific firms. Economic forecasting is a measure to find out the future prosperity of a pattern of investment and is the key activity in economic analysis.

Weather forecasting

Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th century. Weather forecasts are made by collecting quantitative data about the current state of the atmosphere, land, and ocean and using meteorology to project how the atmosphere will change at a given place.

Ensemble forecasting

Ensemble forecasting is a method used in or within numerical weather prediction. Instead of making a single forecast of the most likely weather, a set (or ensemble) of forecasts is produced. This set of forecasts aims to give an indication of the range of possible future states of the atmosphere. Ensemble forecasting is a form of Monte Carlo analysis.

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Demand Forecasting Methods

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Demand Management: Forecasting Methods

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