The Road to Forecasting Success by means of Classification : A Case Study at Wavin

Every month, the Demand Managers of Wavin need to make forecasts for the over twenty countries. They do this by first making statistical forecast where after, they discuss with Sales & Marketing how to adjust these forecasts with market intelligence. Wavin has a product portfolio of over 30.000 SKUs and even though the products are grouped, making the forecasts requires split focus in the limited time the Demand Managers and Sales & Marketing have. Therefore, with this research, we classified the products based on both importance and forecastability for the markets for three countries and we explain the different forecasting approaches for the classes. By making the classification, both the Demand Managers (statistics) as well as Sales & Marketing (qualitative information) can focus on the aspects where they can make a difference, instead of losing time on the aspects where they have only a very limited impact. With the research we also give ways to improve the statistical forecasts by using more methods and combining them. Moreover, the research also includes a comprehensive list with the qualitative factors to consider for Sales & Marketing.