07/10/2024
Logistics Forecasting: How to Stay Competitive—Index
An introduction to our in-depth research on supply chain forecasting and how it can help you to grow your business, improve revenue, and delight your customers.
GEODIS logistics forecasting research
Welcome to our in-depth report on how to make the most of logistics forecasting across your supply chain. We've created this research to help your business stay competitive by improving your logistics forecasting and supply chain optimization. The insights in this report can help you to better manage supply, demand, capacity, and inventory across your national and international networks.
This is a long report, so we've split it into several sections, each published as a separate page. This page is the index page, and you can access each part of the report through the links below.
Part 1: An introduction to logistics forecasting, and why it's essential for business growth
In our introduction to logistics forecasting, we cover:
- The importance of balancing supply, demand, and capacity across your supply chain
- What you can expect from this report on supply chain forecasting
- Why logistics forecasting matters
- The ways that forecasting helps you to grow your business
Part 2: The challenges you'll face when introducing logistics forecasting
We'll help you understand some of the challenges of supply chain forecasting, including:
- Marketplace challenges: Keeping up with changing marketplace trends, consumer demand, and promotional activities
- Technology challenges: Dealing with legacy systems, siloed data, lack of visibility, and unreliable information
- Network challenges: Handling external events, contingency planning, and a lack of consistency across supply chain partners
Part 3: Good strategies for effective logistics forecasting
We share our strategies for thinking about supply chain forecasting:
- Process-based strategies to help you interact with other parties, understand contingencies, and consider all factors that impact your supply chain
- Data-based strategies to ensure the proper flow of information into your forecasting models
- Technology-based strategies that bring together tools, data, reporting, and other factors
Part 4: The benefits of logistics forecasting
A breakdown of the key benefits of good logistics forecasting:
- Reducing operational capital, streamlining operations, and reducing waste
- Managing and mitigating supply chain risks around supply and demand
- Optimizing distribution channels, availability, and lead times
- Boosting revenue, cost control, and profit margins
Part 5: How to improve your logistics forecasting
A collection of actions to improve your logistics forecasting, including:
- How to get integration across your internal teams for demand management and supply chain forecasting
- Working with external partners and vendors to improve data handling and commitments
- Developing scenarios and models for accurate forecasting
- Acting on insights and reports from your forecasting models
Partnering with the right third-party logistics provider
Logistics is such a vital part of your supply chain network that you ideally need any provider to be a leader in supply chain forecasting. The right 3PL should make accurate supply, demand, and forecasting data fundamental to the way they deliver logistics services. This means:
- Getting a 3PL that buys into deep logistics forecasting and invests in integrating and meeting those needs
- Enshrining logistics forecasting into SLAs and operational processes
- Aligning forecasting with inventory management and capacity to remove supply chain constraints
- Considering all transportation modes, network location design, and other factors as part of forecasting and distribution
- Taking a continual improvement approach to refine logistics forecasting and supplementary activities
- Using robust computer modeling and trend identification
How GEODIS can help
GEODIS is a worldwide transportation and logistics leader. We pride ourselves on being a data-driven, deeply integrated, customer-focused provider, with deep expertise in logistics forecasting and what that means to your bottom line.
Strong data management is at the heart of the services we provide. This critical information helps us realistically forecast logistics and supply chain needs based on the latest technology and battle-tested, robust modeling techniques. This means we can provide our own forecasting or effortlessly integrate with your existing tools.
Strong logistics forecasting means we’re central to reducing your operational costs, increasing efficiencies, keeping your supply chain flexible, maximizing continual improvement, and aligning our services with your business strategy. Our investment in new technologies and continual improvement means you can trust us to deliver.
