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Home » Industries » Food Distribution
Food Distribution
Food distributors face long lead times for frozen and canned goods, typically purchased in truckload quantities. They often use public frozen warehouses which close and relocate frequently. Depending upon the item, the forecast may roll up based on a food category, and recurring short-term demand regularly drives weekly forecasts. Absolute Value is specifically designed to easily handle all of these nuances.
Key Absolute Value solution elements for the Food Distribution Industry
| Certain foods have a consistent short-term demand, requiring that distributors operate on a weekly forecast. |
Absolute Value can accommodate short-cycle forecasting with a weekly period for the forecast, or customers can elect to forecast based on monthly periods. |
| Food distributors with institutional customers need to fill orders at the generic food level. To them, "beans are beans", and better to provide some variety of beans, than to send a customer elsewhere. |
Absolute Value provides a roll up feature in the forecast where all history for each item rolls up to a generic product level. In this way, generic food groups can be forecast, regardless of specific variant. |
| Frozen and canned foods have long lead times for replenishment. |
Absolute Value's forecast is specifically designed to optimize long lead times. The Net Time Phased Expected Inventory function provides a view across time for accurate replenishment. |
| Frozen foods are often stored in public frozen warehouses that frequently shift and relocate, making tracking the forecast by item difficult. |
Absolute Value makes it easy to reassign history and customers, by product, to assist the user when public frozen warehouses are opened and closed. The continuity in tracking a forecast, regardless of which warehouse stored it, is very valuable in ultimately maintaining an accurate forecast. |
| Food is often purchased and replenished in truckload quantities. |
Absolute Value replenishment can create one purchase order for multiple truckloads of product. Purchase orders can also be split into truckload quantities. |
| Calculating an accurate forecast in the face of product promotions. |
Absolute Value separates the anticipated forecast for promotions, and enables the user to adjust historical usage for promotion-based sales. |
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