The Impact of Black Friday on Prepared Industries
Millions of people eagerly wait for this time of year to take advantage of great deals across many industry sectors. Each year, more businesses join the date that, over the past decade, has been winning over the Brazilian consumer's wallet.
Do you know how Black Friday came about?
The expression was first used in the United States on September 24, 1869, when two speculators named Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to corner the gold market on the famous New York Stock Exchange. As a consequence, the government at the time was forced to intervene to correct the problem by increasing the supply of the commodity to the market. This made prices fall and many investors lose great fortunes. That event became known as Black Friday.In Brazil, it arrived in 2010 when the website Busca Descontos ran several promotions following the Black Friday concept and registered the domain blackfriday.com.br. Other retailers followed at the time, and so the Brazilian Black Friday was born.
Every industry sector has its own (off-season) Black Friday
The roles and impacts are very clear during Black Friday: the offered promotions raise demand for products while sales skyrocket.However, the impact of this abrupt sales increase across the entire production chain is often not common knowledge. To absorb that high demand variation, you need planning several months in advance so that products don't run out at the chain's end.We also know this demand variation peak is not exclusive to Black Friday. Each industry has its own "Black Friday" and that can happen for several reasons: it's Christmas for consumer goods, Easter for chocolates, Children's Day for candy and toys, a periodic price update for ANVISA-regulated sectors, among many other patterns that can emerge. With rising demand, you need to produce more and the industry needs to be ready to absorb that increase and schedule efficiently its production and distribution.Whether these sales variations are caused by predictable, seasonal factors or by unpredictable market reactions, good Production Planning must be agile and reliable enough to prevent stockouts, let alone unnecessary costs.The company needs to be prepared for that production increase, and good planning work bears fruit in several ways. For example, reducing throughput time in production through efficient scheduling rules can both increase productive efficiency and ensure better service times, reduce inventories and bring more agility to the production chain to react to these demand variations. That is, gains in both cost and service level.
How can NEO help your industry?
Reaching the other side of the rainbow in the search for that dreamed-of pot of gold is not an easy path, but you can count on our help along the way.In practical terms, when we talk about the impacts of demand variation in the production chain, good Advanced Planning will support the company in major decisions about production capacity — from short-to-medium-term scheduling that can change shifts, overtime and outsourcing, to long-term planning that defines workforce expansion and machine purchases. This way we can have clear visibility over the necessary capacity and determine what, how much, where and when to produce, and exactly which materials and resources will be needed.Opcenter APS is the world-leading solution for Production Planning and Scheduling. In addition to generating the MPS (Master Production Schedule) considering capacity constraints and inventory policies, it lets you do long-term capacity planning, supporting tactical and strategic production decisions.NEO Engenharia de Produção is a Siemens Smart Expert Partner and offers solutions with business analysis and implementation of APS software. We've built a new concept that values technological vanguard and technical excellence at the same time that we believe in human sensitivity, creative work and personalized, committed relationships.Get in touch through the form below or via our WhatsApp to learn more about our solutions and schedule a tailored analysis for your business needs. NEO is the largest APS consultancy in Latin America. Sequence your production with someone who specializes in technological solutions.