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Three New Year Resolutions for Supply Chain Planners: Better Late Than Never

Writer's picture: James TaylorJames Taylor

It’s January 21st, and most New Year’s resolutions are history. That gym membership? Forgotten. The kale smoothies? Replaced by donuts. But what about resolutions for your supply chain planning?


A box of donuts.

Here are three resolutions, tailor-made for supply chain planners, that might be late to the party but are worthwhile, attainable goals for 2025

 

#1. Move Your Planning Fences In

Old Habit: Your planning fences may stretch further into the future than they should. When's the last time you thought about them? That MRP implementation 10 years ago? Whether it’s production schedules or replenishment plans, you may have become too satisfied with your current planning fences. Be honest, as supply planners your ideas about improvement are directed at criticizing the forecast accuracy at the fence.


2025 Resolution: Challenge your team to shrink your planning fences like you would your waistline, if those donuts weren’t so tasty. If you are hitting your goals for fill rate and service level, and you’ve removed uncommon cause variation from your process, consider ratcheting down the frozen, slushy, trading, orders-only, or whatever scheme you use to tame your backlog. If that requires faster changeovers, closer suppliers, or other capabilities, do the work.

 

#2. Make Your Forecast Value Add Harder

Old Habit: If you’re still benchmarking your planners against a simple naive forecast, it’s time for an upgrade. While a naive forecast is great for simplicity and explainability, is it really stretching your team’s capabilities?


2025 Resolution: Swap out that easy-to-beat naive forecast with a tougher baseline, like a moving average, seasonal naive, or Holt-Winters. Litmus test: Any algo that can be reasonably modeled in Excel is game to be your new baseline (sorry ARIMA).

Changing your FVA baseline is like adding weight to your bench bar or quickening your treadmill pace—the harder the benchmark, the more meaningful the FVA difference.

 

#3. Pilot Some AI Magic

Old Habits: If you're like many people, you've started ignoring anything that says AI on it. It’s a coping mechanism. The AI hype is overwhelming, and reading too much about it makes you dizzy with FOMO.


2025 Resolution: Make 2025 the year you commit to a small AI/ML pilot. Start simple: use AI to analyze meeting notes for action items and follow-ups. Even a modest pilot can improve the day-in-the-life of planners and set the stage for bigger innovations.


Here's to a Successful 2025

Unlike those ill-fated fitness goals, these resolutions aren’t about lofty ideals or punishing discipline. They’re practical and achievable. You’re not just resolving to be better—you’re building a more agile, intelligent, and resilient supply chain.


So, grab a coffee, and a donut, revisit your planning tools, and get started. It’s 2025, and there’s still time to make this the year your supply chain resolutions stick.

 


A gym on February 1.
A gym on February 1.

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