Intermittent Demand Forecasting

15Software for Intermittent Demand

15.1 Introduction

The methods discussed so far in this book are analytical in nature, thus lending themselves to algorithmic implementation. Indeed, all procedures previously considered (e.g. for forecasting the mean and variance of demand, appropriately classifying demand patterns, deciding on the most appropriate distributional assumptions, or building empirical demand distributions) constitute, potentially, key features of a forecasting software package. In this chapter, we discuss progress in implementing the procedures covered in this book, and what remains to be done to enable the full utilisation of the knowledge available in intermittent demand inventory forecasting.

To put the above in context, we start with a discussion of alternative types of software packages. We distinguish between proprietary software (including in‐house developed solutions), open source software, and hybrid solutions that seem to be gaining momentum in industry at the present time.

Subsequently, previous work in forecasting software evaluation is reviewed, and some important generic features are identified, to enable a comprehensive assessment of software capabilities. We extend the discussion to the context of intermittent demand forecasting and present some features, over and above the generic ones, for evaluating software solutions. This is followed by an assessment of what is currently available in terms of the methods and approaches advocated in this book. ...