As a distributor or manufacturer, your largest and most costly asset is your inventory. Reducing inventory carrying cost and increasing margins can cause a greater effect on the bottom line than increasing sales. By doing both, you can significantly increase profitability! Advanced Forecasting ERP Functionality with AFP for Dynamics NAV can dramatically help streamline your supply chain by holding the correct amount of inventory.
iCepts Technology Group offers a new series of tools in Advanced Forecasting and Procurement, for Microsoft Dynamics NAV, that can help distributors and manufacturers more accurately forecast inventory resulting in lower inventory levels, lower carrying costs, and less demand on credit lines. This solution to NAV is called Advanced Forecasting and Procurement by Lanham Associates for AFP.
Any forecasting tool is only as good as the accuracy of the historical data used to derive its forecast. AFP provides several ways to improve the accuracy of historical data through the use of:
- Filtered Usage – Only sales that are expected to reoccur should be considered as historical input for the forecast.
- One-time sales can be flagged by the customer service person and excluded from usage.
- Unusual usage is flagged by the system to provide the user a means of adjusting abnormalities.
- Smoothed Usage – Irregular usage can be automatically smoothed to improve usage patterns.
- Redirected Usage – Usage history from discontinued items can be reassigned to new items.
- Cloning – A percentage of Historical Usage can be cloned from an existing item to a new item. This allows you to forecast new items without waiting for historical usage to accumulate.
- Collaborative Input – Input from large customers who will share their expected buying patterns can be included
Lanham’s AFP solution empowers distribution companies to reduce surplus and excess inventory, improve forecasting and replenishment processes, increase customer satisfaction, and free up cash.
With Advanced Forecasting and Procurement for Microsoft Dynamics NAV, you can:
- Forecast up to 52 periods with a “Best Fit”approach
- Collaborate with your customers and vendor use for a “Collaborative Forecast”
- Streamline your purchasing workflow
- Manage low-usage, long-lead-time, and seasonal items
- Make better purchasing decisions with a “Suggested Order”
- Analyze your surplus and excess inventory
- Options for systems other than Dynamics NAV
Learn more about Advanced Forecasting and Procurement for Dynamics NAV here