St Louis Ñ March 10, 2003 Ñ Toymaker Spin Master has tapped solution provider Demand Management for a forecasting system to help ensure that the company's products make it to store shelves in time to catch seasonal waves of toy-buying.
Spin Master's star has been on the rise since its founding in 1994, and today the company is one of the fastest-growing in the world. Many of the company's toys have experienced a high demand, such as the Air Hogs Sky Shark, which found its way to the cover of Popular Science magazine.
In general, toy manufacturers live and die by the production calendar, and products that do not make it to retailers keyed to seasonal cycles never make it to the shelf.
"Material and demand planning is very important in the toy industry because everything is manufactured 'just in time,'" said Mario Altimira, vice president of planning for Spin Master. "With mass retailers going to near-JIT, it became necessary for us to have a very advanced system."
The toymaker will begin using Demand Management's solutions to manage its forecasting in the second quarter. At that time, Demand Solutions Feedback will begin collecting field data from Spin Master sales representatives, sending data directly into DS Forecast Management from anywhere.
"A lot of forecasting systems don't accommodate flexible ordering," said Altimira. "Not only will Demand Solutions create as many accounts as you want, but you can aggregate and slice and dice the data in any way."
