In a bid to better synchronize its manufacturing operations with customer demand, consumer products giant Unilever has selected Terra Technology’s Demand Sensing software for its U.S. operations. The maker of Lipton, Dove, Hellman’s, and a phalanx of other well-known brands aims to trim its inventories and decrease forecast error by 25% with the help of the new system, according to a Terra statement.
Unilever saw a 25% decrease in forecast error when it piloted the Terra system in its Personal Care unit. It plans to complete a full rollout of the product in the United States by August 2009.
Better aligning production activities with market signals is a core goal of lean manufacturers, but forecasts have historically delivered less than stellar results. Terra’s response to that challenge has been to outfit its software with pattern recognition technology that the company says can analyze daily information streams and determine “which information is predictive of actual demand and more accurately predict retailer requirements.”