Collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment: demand planning in supply chain management

Abstract

Recognising the value of information sharing among supply chain partners, a growing number of firms have expressed keen interest in jointly forecasting customer demand and co-managing business functions. In particular, such interest sparked the rapid development and implementation of Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) that was proven to be successful in minimising safety stocks, improving order fill rates, increasing sales, and reducing customer response time. Despite increasing popularity, key drivers for the successful development and implementation of CPFR have not been fully understood by practitioners and academicians alike. This paper unveils the invisible challenges and opportunities for adopting and implementing CPFR. Also, it provides an overview of CPFR in comparison to other alternative forecasting techniques such as agent-based forecasting and focus forecasting, while synthesising the past evolutions and future trends of CPFR in a supply chain setting.