Manage demand for effective and cost-efficient utilization of resources and integrity of order promising.

Customer service standards are known, communicated internally and externally, managed and developed.

Order promising and inbound and outbound production flow must be co-ordinated through a master production schedule system.

Order promising must be done using available to promise concepts.

Management of demand must capture all sources of demand and properly identify order timings, quantity and location.

Forecast inaccuracy is inevitable. Management attention must give weighted focus to responsiveness of actual demand conditions.

Marketing and manufacturing should work together to define:

• Response times.

• Order sizes.

• Order frequency.

• Packaging requirements.

• Shipping modes.

(Your company appraisal.)

What are realistic customer delivery aims:

• When the customer states they want the product?

• Order acknowledgement date given when the order was placed?

• When the customer wants to use the product (but has bought ahead)?

• When the customer ideally wants to use the product?

• Delivery fulfilment ex-works?

• Delivery fulfilment shipped to the customer?

Shipment of the whole order?

A quantity of the product line?

The full quantity of the product line?

A balanced fulfilment of the order?

Demand is satisfied within:

• X hours.

• X days.

• X weeks.

Does this vary depending on the product/customer?