It’s been over a year since the global pandemic forced manufacturers to stall their operations. Hundreds of thousands of employees were put on pause; demand vanished overnight. The impact was catastrophic — and amid the fallout, demand planners were forced to reimagine their approach to gauging supply and demand. 

In a new episode of Gerent’s Ahead of the Curve Podcast, host Chris Henry checks in with two manufacturing veterans to discuss how businesses can prepare for future economic disasters by improving their real-time adaptability. In this installment, you’ll hear why the old rules for demand planning don’t apply today and how S&OP teams can leverage emerging technology to better respond to shifting market conditions. 

Conversation Highlights Include: 

2:00 — Why Covid-19 compelled manufacturers to abandon their usual playbooks for demand planning

6:41 — How companies can leverage real-time data to be more adaptable in times of change

8:33 — Why open communication channels are crucial to maintaining efficient and productive supply chains

11:40 — What a CRM platform like Salesforce can do to track customer trends, facilitate forecasting, and enable companies to flexibly respond to demand shifts

Episode Guests:

David Morley

Former Manufacturing Practice Lead, Gerent

David Morley is a 30-year manufacturing veteran and early Salesforce adopter. Over the course of his career, he has achieved international success in sales, marketing, operations, turnarounds, business development, startups, and strategic planning.

Keith Forcinito

Senior Director of Global Category Management at CentroMotion

Keith Forcinito is a customer-focused, goal-oriented leader with an established record in sales & marketing, supply chain development, operations, and relationship management. As a Senior Director for CentroMotion, he was responsible for driving productivity and supply chain optimization activities across six global brands and a collective $200 million of direct and indirect spend.