Quick Response Forecasting & Planning: Revisited

Over 4 years ago I wrote a column with Eric Wilson to start a dialogue about a new concept called Quick Response Forecasting (QRF). The column discussed speeding up responses to downstream and social media predictive demand signals. It also discussed rapid response to catastrophic events such as hurricanes and earthquakes. My research during COVID-19 has led me to believe that QR can play an important role in forecasting and planning following catastrophic events, because managers are faced with having to plan under uncertainty. This column discusses lessons learned during the pandemic and introduces a Hierarchy Demand-Supply Planning Framework that includes QR under uncertainty, separately run from the S&OP ...