Inventory Forecasting and Replenishment

Improve inventory levels by enhancing forecasting and replenishment capabilities

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i2 Inforem

i2 Inventory Forecasting and Replenishment (Inforem) is an application that tracks current demand, forecasts future demand, and develops recommended order quantities. i2 Inforem has enjoyed a rich legacy through more than three decades of performance. Its highly scalable engine, user controls, and customizable interfaces have provided retailers, wholesalers, mass merchants, and grocers with the power and flexibility to routinely manage tens of millions of item/location records.

i2 Inforem is a comprehensive forecasting and replenishment solution for the top- and middle-tier retailer. The solution does not replace the stock status and purchasing applications being used today. Rather, it is designed to work with and enhance them. It can help keep the right items in stock and balance two important but conflicting goals—maintaining a high level of service while holding down the cost of inventory.

The core strength of i2 Inforem lies in the adaptive-smoothing technique used to track and maintain demand. The adaptive-smoothing technique, called variable response smoothing, is more responsive in identifying item trends and maintaining an average rate of sale, and results in more accurate forecasts. i2 Inforem also utilizes seasonal profiles to identify the peaks and valleys within the selling season. A profile enables the user to make adjustments to the seasonal indexes for bad weather, distribution problems, or to realign floating holidays to correctly reflect the upcoming selling season.

Recommended orders can be generated on an individual item basis, or for a group of items required to meet a minimum amount or vendor constraint. The entire process can be easily managed with a handful of parameters. i2 Inforem supports up to 10 levels of parameter overrides, providing greater flexibility to manage product by location. The solution can be used to precisely manage inventory at the distribution center or at the store level.

Capabilities of i2 Inforem include:

Provides six forecasting and order-generation rules
Specifies up to three constraints when generating group orders
Supports minimums within minimums
Provides 10 user-defined levels of override capability
Maintains an average rate of sales and forecast error at the lowest level of hierarchy
Calculates safety stock dynamically based on forecast error and user-specified service level
Uses date sensitive on-order quantities to accurately calculate lost sales and unavailable on-order
Establishes truck loading controls
Tracks the effectiveness of the forecast update process with four sets of exception flags
Enables short-cycle forecasting and replenishment strategy
Manages up to 13 weeks of historical data
Enables online, interactive order rerun
Provides user security and online access controls