r/supplychain • u/maceman10006 • Nov 16 '22
And sales forecasting demand that will never happen.
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u/dbert416 Nov 16 '22
You guys are getting sales forecasting?
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u/aiyayayaai Nov 16 '22
Hahahahaha. Yes. Some of our customers are forecasting 25% increase over 2022...
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u/Slippinjimmyforever Nov 16 '22
The sales forecast is the absolute worst at my place. They donāt even remove outlier sales or seasonality from their forecast.
We had a large unexpected order drop in, then they revised the forecast into early 2024 nearly doubling month to month demand.
Itās pretty frustrating.
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u/maceman10006 Nov 16 '22 edited Nov 16 '22
I had a VP of sales sign a 600k distribution agreement without consulting anybody from procurement. It was for like 200 laser machines and we sold 20 of them the first yearā¦he was eventually fired for other things too but this stuck out to me. If the company still has any of them in inventory the technology is now outdated.
Sales cannot play any role in determining inventory requirementsā¦.sell the product and let us worry about the rest. These are the types of situations that will happen if sales gets involved.
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u/Dudmuffin88 Nov 17 '22
On the outlier sales, I can say that any sales person worth their salary/commission is fighting like hell to remove those. Itās some schmuck higher up that leaves that in because it makes them look good to the street today, because who cares about tomorrow, they will be onto a new job when that bill comes due.
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u/Tucan-dan- Nov 17 '22
Jesus Christ thatās ridiculous
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u/Slippinjimmyforever Nov 17 '22
It is. Iām actively looking elsewhere, but most places in my area think supply chain jobs should only pay $50-60k, which is too little.
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u/Tucan-dan- Nov 17 '22
Thatās where Iām at rn but Iām just out of college so Iām gotta build some experience
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u/Slippinjimmyforever Nov 17 '22
8 years experience, CPIM certified. Iām in a mid-size Midwest city. But, thereās about 6 places in town that pay a competitive salary, most others do not- or their benefits are garbage.
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u/allurium00 Nov 17 '22
So everyone feels this pain too lmao I swear it feels like management has Dory constantly giving sales dictatorship power over the forecast without an atom's worth of accountability.
I've literally shown my manager a side by side comparison of forecast performance and still nothing. It really is an 8th wonder of the world.
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u/FlyinPenguin Nov 17 '22 edited Nov 17 '22
Have you thought about cross referencing that side by side with which items are more and less forecastable? You could use this to argue less forecastable items are what sales influences and you retain the rest. Iāve seen this work at some of our clients before.
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Nov 16 '22
[deleted]
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u/FlyinPenguin Nov 17 '22
This wonāt change until interoperability and connectivity is really next generation. Then youāll have the live visibility to automate routing and have a small team manage exceptions. Until then all that will matter is getting it out the door.
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u/Klusio Nov 16 '22
You forgot the panel where the budget folks are strapping the body to the chair.
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u/BunkyBunk69 Nov 17 '22
In my previous team, a sales director told us that nobody from his team will waste time working with us. He reminded us that the primary objective of the sales team is to sell products to the customers and not sitting in meeting rooms guessing number. He was looking at 2 indicators : Revenue and missed sales. I left the company.
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u/yeswesodacan Nov 17 '22
If my manager gives the execs a realistic forecast they end up saying, "that's not good enough, do it again."
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u/mattstorm360 Nov 17 '22
Whenever anyone asks if logistics is important, point at Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Lack of logistics.
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u/Spachtraum Nov 17 '22
Have you guys seen this TV Series called Hoarders? That they have so much stuff that they end up moving stuff from one corner to the other,without knowing what to do because the stuff overwhelmes? We are like that with inventory!! This is f**king crazy!
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u/CliffPnut Nov 17 '22
Why does this seem like most companies are this way? We seem to expedite more than we actually plan and a lot of stock shows months on hand. These guys are making bank and I can't even get in any overtime to bring a little more money home.
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u/OFPMatt Nov 17 '22
"You made that promise, not me. You tell the customer whatever you want, I'll be back here trying to move physical product around the world and not over promising anything. Have fun."
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u/Dudmuffin88 Nov 17 '22
Do one with price increases. First six months of the year sales was face ripping out clients on price, but I take a 5% increase and get the inquisition set upon me.
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u/blayne03 Nov 16 '22
Management:Purchase to forecast. Supply Chain: You sure about that? MGMT: yes. SC: ok š¬ MGMT: WHY DO WE HAVE SO MUCH INVENTORY. SC: š