All episodes › Planning and analytics
This episode follows the planning function of a large family-owned manufacturer of roof windows through the first months of the pandemic. Sales collapsed almost overnight in the hardest-hit European markets, and several factories were shut for two weeks to protect staff and support local government efforts.
Demand then turned in an unexpected direction. With people confined at home, interest in home improvement rose, and planners had to judge whether the surge was short-term stockpiling or a genuine lift in sales, in a business where demand is normally steady. The conversation also covers the value of owning planning software in-house, so that new algorithms can be programmed overnight and used the next morning, and a spirited defence of spreadsheets for planning.