Waitrose has rolled out SAS forecasting software to help it manage its supply chain.
The software will help the supermarket forecast demand for its products based not only on the past history of each item, but on variables such as the weather, sports events, holidays and promotions.
Rob Thompson, Waitrose's head of supply chain, said, "SAS's event forecasting software enables us to incorporate knowledge about our business into the forecasting process and enables us to forecast the demand for thousands of items quickly and accurately. We anticipate that the return on investment we will achieve on reduced wastage and increased revenues will be significant."
The SAS system will be used to forecast some 20,000 Waitrose items across the company's stores.
After trials, one Waitrose store fruit and vegetable manager said the system had cut his order amendment rate by half. Other managers said the system allowed them to reduce the amount of items they had to store on site.
Waitrose is planning to roll out the system to all stores next year, after further trials in the run-up to Christmas.
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This was first published in August 2006
