Forecast Management

Forecast, or projected demand, is a major input into the Master Scheduling process.  The forecast is a statement of anticipated demand on the manufacturing facility and, together with firm demand and inventory levels, is used to plan the production and material requirements throughout the system.

There are two ways to provide forecast data to Master Scheduling:

·     Using a PC forecasting package.  MAC-PAC has an interface to Demand Solutions, a third-party forecasting package that runs on a personal computer.  MAC-PAC's Forecasting Interface module is used to download demand history data to the personal computer at the end of each month.  The forecasting application uses this information to calculate demand for the next 12 months.  This projected demand is then uploaded to Master Scheduling.  If planning for the next few periods has already been frozen, you can specify that the forecast data for those periods not be uploaded.  Note that the interface can be used with other PC-based forecasting packages with minor modifications.  See the Forecasting Interface User Manual for more information.

·     Entering the forecast data manually.  Projected demand quantities are entered through the Projected Demand Maintenance conversation.  After selecting a part number, demand source, and planning period, the user enters the demand for each forecast period.

The projected demand may be a forecast of total sales to customers for each period, or may be a replenishment order from distribution locations.  The demand that is entered into the Master Scheduling system should represent the market demand that is to be satisfied by the manufacturing site.  Forecasts may be entered for  standard or daily master scheduled parts, requirements planning parts, and parts with service demand.

Related

• Processing
• Considerations