Over the last couple of years forecasting and planning in the high-tech and electronics industry has become ever more challenging. Companies are spending considerable time and resources improving the quality of the forecasting and planning processes and hence the quality of the output. With this in mind EyeOn has launched a knowledge network where companies in the hightech and electronics industry share experiences and best practices.

As a starting point for this network interviews have been conducted with all participants to determine the current status in the industry.

High levels of demand and supply uncertainty call for planning processes that allow for focused decision making (efficiency) based on unambiguous information (information transparency) with room for frequent revisions of plans using the latest insights available (speed).

In the light of this collaboration (as well internal as external), new product planning, the reduction of political behavior driven by target setting or bonus schemes, the involvement of marketing and sales in the forecasting process and the availability of robust decision support tools were mentioned by the participants as most significant. Based on these learning some key implementation principles are discussed that can guide the implementation of responsive forecasting and planning processes.

EyeOn created a white paper that identifies the key developments in the business planning processes in the high-tech and electronics industry and provides a framework for a responsive forecasting and planning process to deal with the specific dynamics in this industry. Besides literature, information has been gathered via explorative field research; this consisted of several structured face-toface interviews with large, multinational companies. The interviews were conducted between March and June 2005. Since representatives from various parts of the value chain participated, good insight in the specific forecasting and planning issues throughout the industry could be achieved.

The first section discusses the industry dynamics that puts high demands on forecasting and planning. The second section highlights the 5 key improvement areas in this field for the high-tech and electronics companies, as can be concluded from the interviews. Those 5 improvement areas have in common that they underline the need for responsive forecasting and planning processes. The last section shows how a responsive forecasting and planning process can be implemented, for which key implementation principles are given.

Read the full white paper

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