• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » DIRECTV's Journey from Manual to Automated Forecasting

DIRECTV's Journey from Manual to Automated Forecasting

December 29, 2014
SupplyChainBrain

Up until two years ago, DIRECTV used Microsoft Excel to create four-month forecasts for 120 parts that are forward-positioned at 250 stocking locations, says Sullivan, manager of supply chain planning and forecasting. “The forward stocking locations receive inventory once a week, so between the number of parts, FSLs and weeks, we had about 500,000 different forecasted values.”

While this was a very complex Excel document, it still only projected an aggregate number of parts for DIRECTV’s three distribution centers and only at a monthly level – nothing at the local level and nothing by week.

Since then, the company has completed an SAP implementation, which has enabled the forecasting process to be automated. “We now are able to forecast at the local level and by week. We also are able to use historical data to identify trends and seasonality,” says Sullivan. He notes that demand at DIRECTV follows a strong seasonality pattern, peaking when the NFL season starts.

“We now are able to incorporate that detail into our forecast along with whatever promotions the sales and marketing teams are planning. So our journey was going from this Excel version through requirements gathering and determining what we needed, to the ultimate development and testing of a system.”

Getting a system up and running was only the beginning of DIRECTV’s journey, however. “Once we had the system working, we needed to learn how to tweak and adjust it,” says Sullivan. “We had outsourced the requirements gathering and development of the system, but those companies left when the system was delivered. That’s when the real work began.”

Sullivan offers two takeaways for companies embarking on a similar journey. The first is to set expectations upfront. “We actually thought we had done a very good job with that,” he says. “We met with the procurement people who would need our forecast and with the group that distributes the equipment. But it turns out that we didn’t do a good job of setting expectations with them.”

He notes that the prior Excel process, despite its limitations, had a certain level of accuracy. “When we implemented a system that gave us far more detail, the downstream folks didn’t see the accuracy in that. They would just dive into their weekly, local number and say it didn’t look right.”

Additionally, there were upstream failures, he says. Finance and sales groups did not understand the importance of their inputs or would just forget to input data, he says – another failure to set expectations upfront.

The other key takeaway was around simply accepting the number from the SAP demand planning program. “It really took us quite a while to dive in and realize that our vendor had not set things up right,” he says. “We had good information going in, but the settings were not right so the numbers we were getting were off. This made me really understand that with automation you are not dealing with a crystal ball but a black box. It is just doing calculations and it has to be set up right.”

Now that all the kinks are worked out, DIRECTV is happy with the results. “We have system that is running well, forecasting at a level of granularity we never had before and with a good level of accuracy,” he says. “And all forecasting values now are pulled automatically into the system.”

Additionally, the company has reduced incidences of parts shortages “almost to none,” Sullivan says.

“We also are working, with some success, to reduce our total inventory carrying costs,” he says. “In a typical day we carry $350m worth of equipment in warehouses and reducing that will result in real direct-dollar savings.”

To view the video in its entirety, click here

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Logistics Global Logistics Logistics Outsourcing Technology ERP & Enterprise Systems Forecasting & Demand Planning Inventory Planning/ Optimization SC Planning & Optimization Supply Chain Visibility
KEYWORDS DIRECTV ERP & Enterprise Systems Forecasting & Demand Planning Global Logistics inventory control Inventory Management inventory management IT inventory management systems Inventory Planning/ Optimization IT supply chain IT supply chain management Logistics logistics & supply chain logistics IT solutions Logistics Outsourcing logistics services Randy Sullivan SC Planning & Optimization supply chain Supply Chain Management supply chain management IT supply chain management SCM supply chain management: forecasting and demand planning Supply Chain Planning supply chain services supply chain solutions supply chain systems Supply Chain Visibility supply management Technology Value chain value chain IT
  • Related Articles

    DIRECTV's Journey from Manual to Automated Forecasting

    IBM's Journey From an International to 'Globally Integrated' Enterprise

    Q&A | IBM's Journey to 'The Cognitive Enterprise'

  • Related Events

    Let Increased Visibility Ignite Your Supply Chain to Become More Resilient and Agile

    Optimized Supply Chain Planning with SAP IBP at Lennox International

SupplyChainBrain

100 Great Supply Chain Partners Issue 2009

More from this author

Wake up to Coronavirus Updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • Coronavirus-watch-Armada

    Virus Update: Biden Unveils National Strategy; Pfizer Says It’s Willing to Sell Vaccine to States

    Coronavirus
  • Car Industry

    A Year of Poor Planning Led to Carmakers’ Massive Chip Shortage

    Technology
  • Can Employers Require Employees to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine? Part 1

    Watch: Can Employers Require Employees to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine? Part 1

    Coronavirus
  • U.S. Vaccine Rollout Hindered by Faulty Coordination, Messaging

    WHO Fumes at Western Drugmakers As China Fills Vaccine Void

    Coronavirus
  • COVID-19 Vaccine

    Vaccine Disparities Raise Alarm as COVID-19 Variants Multiply

    Coronavirus

Digital Edition

Scb home issue 27

2020 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • LSP Saves Customer $1.5 Million a Year With MPO Global Inbound Management

  • Auto Supplier Wows Key Client Using riskmethods Supply Chain Savvy

  • Integrating Shipping and Compliance Saves Conglomerate Millions

  • How a Consumer Goods Giant Upped Its On-Time Delivery Performance

  • LSP Wows Global Client, Quickly Advances to Become End-to-End Provider

Visit Our Sponsors

6 River Systems ArcBest Armada
aThingz BluJay Burris Logistics
DSC Logistics DCSA (Digital Container Shipping Association) DHL Resilience360
Genpact GEP Honeywell Intelligrated
Infor Logility Magnitude Software
MPO Old Dominion Oliver Wight
OpenSky Ports America Purolator
QAD Precision Red Classic Riskmethods
TGW Systems Transportation Insights Watson Land Company
Westfalia Technologies Workjam Yang Ming
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright © 2016 - 2018 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing