Contents

• This document reviews the paper “Collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment: a case study in copper clad laminate industry”
• Chung, W. W. C. and Leung, S. W. F. 2005, Production, Planning and Control, vol. 16, no. 6, p. 563-574.

Description

The process of collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment or more commonly known as CPFR is a powerful tool aimed principally to enhance supply chain integration by bringing together various business partners, vendors/suppliers, and customers for progressive business. Information shared between suppliers and retailers plays an important role in planning and satisfying customer requirements, which is done through a supportive system of shared information under CPFR process. Implementing CPFR also involves the consideration of an ‘engineering change control’ for market enhancement. As Chung and Leung state,
“With CPFR, the companies collaboratively manage their commercial plan then monitor the impact of engineering change on the product configuration and the deliverables to the customer.”
However, there are sizable differences in the implementation of a CPFR model among various companies in the supply chain industry. For example, implementing CPFR in grocery as well as in manufacturing industries are two different notions. Chung and Leung point out the considerable differences between the two industries in terms of implementing a CPFR model with special reference to the copper clad laminate industry. As mentioned in the beginning of their paper, grocery and manufacturing industries in CPFR include the following disparities,
 Unlike grocery, sales in copper clad laminate industry include no distributors, wholesalers or retailers.
 Copper clad laminate industry does not utilize any sophisticated software program resulting in lack of point-of-sale data.
 Frequent changes in product design.