Many retailers are witnessing a surge in point solutions that promise to address the challenges associated with inventory planning. While these tools enhance efficiency for individual teams, they often perpetuate silos that undermine true supply chain optimization.

The result? In the quest to find a solution tailored to their team’s needs, departments are cutting themselves off from one another and stifling collaboration — sometimes inadvertently exacerbating the supply chain delays intended to resolve.

To break free from these limitations, retailers must take a comprehensive, all-encompassing approach and unify their planning departments in a single system to fully optimize the supply chain in the face of an increasingly disruptive market.

The challenges currently facing supply chain planning

1. Organizational siloes still exist, and they’re holding you back.

In many planning organizations, siloes are alive and well. Planning groups frequently rely on separate processes and tools tailored to specific product characteristics. While using point solutions may seem efficient for individual departments who are purchasing the “best fit” for their needs, the reality is that this approach creates an environment where certain replenishment methods are not available where they might make sense — ultimately reinforcing the disconnect between departments and causing inefficiencies in the supply chain.

For example, a highly promotional item may benefit from advanced probabilistic ordering logic typically used for fresh foods. However, if the item is managed within an ambient-centric tool that relies on a statistical safety stock calculation, then this logic becomes inaccessible.

The result is an uneven patchwork of solutions that dampens optimization and complicates decision-making. To unlock true efficiency, planning teams must adopt a unified platform that considers the assortment in its entirety — whether it’s bananas or sweaters — while using the ideal replenishment methods for each product according to its characteristics.

2. The rising tide of disruptions.

The volume and complexity of disruptions in retail are climbing, and planners are bearing the brunt of the fallout. Day-to-day exceptions dominate their workflows — requiring manual intervention for even the top-selling items. The result is tunnel vision only made narrower by a lack of universal visibility across the supply chain. Instead of focusing on higher-value tasks that drive profit and organizational efficiency, planners are often driven to distraction addressing issues that have landed on their desks without notice.

3. Automation: the final frontier of enhanced inventory planning.

Rapid advancements have been made in planning technology, but the speed at which technology has developed may cause some users to hesitate before trusting it entirely. Concerns about using automation in inventory planning often stem from past experiences where a system misstep — whether real or perceived — led to skepticism.

Unfortunately, this history of mistrust corners planners into a cycle of manual management, leaving them stressed and overwhelmed. Ironically, planners end up manually managing everything, every day, to sidestep the very automation tools that were designed to make their jobs easier.

Nevertheless, the right system enables planners to focus on strategic activities rather than getting bogged down in minutiae by offering robust automation capabilities. It’s important to understand that automation is about empowering planners — not replacing them. By handling predictable tasks, automation frees users to pursue more strategy-led efforts.

Ideally, planners should think of automation as a tool used to tell the system where to go, and let it optimize the route. This model produces the following outcomes:

  • Users become decision-makers who focus on areas in which the system has not yet been or cannot be trained
  • Stress levels drop as repetitive manual work decreases
  • The organization benefits from higher efficiency and better results overall

By embracing automation and integrated planning, retailers can break down the barriers that hinder their ability to pivot quickly in response to market fluctuations.

The solution: unite planning under one platform

Ultimately, retailers have two choices:

  • Let each department continue buying point solutions that work for them, furthering fragmentation and increasing complexity, OR
  • Invest in an integrated platform that seamlessly aligns all planning functions, enabling interdepartmental collaboration and holistic optimization

This is the reality that an integrated solution makes possible:

Move seamlessly between replenishment and allocation

Replenishment and allocation should no longer be viewed as separate functions. Contemporary inventory planning frameworks enable organizations to push inventory and clear distribution centers (DCs) based on data-informed strategies. Whether it’s preparing for a new season or managing promotional stock, inventory movement becomes smooth sailing.

Manage all products together

The days of managing bananas and sweaters in distinct systems are over. A unified platform allows planners to handle diverse assortments with replenishment methods tailored to product characteristics. This approach ensures that each item is managed optimally while implementing a cohesive, unified strategy across the entire organization.

Align inventory planning to business outcomes

Stop wasting time and energy micromanaging suggested order quantities and start focusing on aligning inventory strategies with overarching business goals. By leveraging scenario planning, organizations can easily visualize a network-wide ripple effect, reducing tunnel vision and improving decision making across departments.

Connect your allocation and replenishment operations across all departments

The singular goal of inventory planning is to move inventory in a mutually beneficial way for the business, the customer and the product itself. To achieve this, organizations must abandon the fragmented systems that continue to bog down planning departments while promising to relieve them of inefficiencies.

With Blue Yonder Allocation and Replenishment, organizations can:

  • Connect planning across all departments
  • Ensure unified visibility from one end of the supply chain to the other
  • Optimize inventory movement
  • Reduce stress on inventory planners by leveraging the power of robust automation capabilities

Don’t let fragmented systems hold you back. Contact a Blue Yonder expert today to unlock the full potential of your inventory planning.

With Blue Yonder, retailers can achieve seamless, intelligent inventory management across every department.