Academics / Undergraduate Program / Client Project Challenge / ProjectWarehouse Capacity Dashboard to Long-term Forecasting
Warehouse Capacity Dashboard to long-term forecasting
July 8, 2024
JR286 is a fast-growing sports equipment company.
They recently completed a project with a student team from Northwestern’s Client Project Challenge class.
The project yielded two deliverables, a daily dashboard of warehouse capacity and a long-term forecast of capacity needed.
The dashboard provides a daily snapshot of available capacity by aisle, identifies locations for consolidation, and calculates the required volume to store new quantities of products. The dashboard allows inventory handlers to save time spent searching for available space. Additionally, pinpointing partially utilized locations that can be consolidated enhances space efficiency and helps alleviate long-term storage constraints.
The other deliverable was a long-term forecast to understand when additional capacity would be needed.
“We had two challenges with forecasting warehouse capacity. First, our different product lines (sports equipment) are highly seasonal. Second, we have to translate forecasts into specific space requirements. We were impressed with Phillip, Leo, Ally, and Kara’s ability to break down the problem, create multiple forecasts, and give us a data-driven method to translate this to the overall capacity,” said John Kolody, DC Operations Lead Engineer.
The following graph shows the results of the forecast. It can be seen that the linear forecast, based off aggregate financial data does not capture the seasonal nature of the business. In addition, translating to specific warehouse capacity needs gives a different picture of future needs.
“We plan on using and updating the dashboard and forecast as our business continues to evolve. These will help us make better business decisions. We’ve appreciated our long-term relationship with Northwestern. This was another great project,” said Ron Perry, Senior Director of Global Logistics and DCs.
The student team was Philip Ho, Leonardo Bentata, Ally Hayden, and Kara Cho. The faculty advisor was Professor Derek Nelson.
The full JR286 team was John Kolody and Ron Perry.
About JR286:
We are a global leader in the sporting goods industry.
We specialize in the design, development, manufacturing and commercialization of branded and licensed sports equipment and accessories.
We work with the industry’s most iconic sports and lifestyle brands including Nike Equipment & Accessories, Jordan Brand Equipment & Accessories, Dakine Equipment and Vertra Premium Suncare.