And who better than Spalding to know that demand planning, like basketball, is a team effort, involving multiple divisions within an organization, as well as business partners up and down the supply and demand chains.
So it's no surprise that Spalding recently went live with a Web-based collaborative planning and forecasting solution. The solution, from supply chain software company Manugistics Group, enables the company's sales, marketing, supply chain planning, finance and forecasting divisions to create optimized forecasts of demand for the company's various sporting goods lines. External trading partners will likely be added to the network in the near future.
By creating centralized, consensus forecasts for its products down to the stock keeping unit (SKU) level, Spalding aims to improve overall forecast accuracy and sales and operations planning.
Spalding examined several technology providers before selecting the Manugistics solution, which joins a broader technology initiative at Spalding targeted at many of the company's key business processes.
"Manugistics demonstrated to us that their solutions have the quick implementation time, ease of use, flexibility, and strong reputation for delivery in our industry that we were looking for," said Jeff Davis, director of information systems at Spalding.
Davis said that the success of the demand planning project has prompted Spalding to consider implementing additional Manugistics solutions to enhance product flow, improve planning and increase visibility throughout our extended supply chain."
Spalding, based in Chicopee, Mass., had 2000 sales of $409 million.
