IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/jorsoc/v57y2006i5d10.1057_palgrave.jors.2602031.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Forecasting for intermittent demand: the estimation of an unbiased average

Author

Listed:
  • E A Shale

    (University of Warwick)

  • J E Boylan

    (Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College)

  • F R Johnston

    (University of Warwick)

Abstract

The majority of the range of items held by many stockists exhibit intermittent demand. Accurate forecasting of the issue rate for such items is important and several methods have been developed, but all produce biased forecasts to a greater or lesser degree. This paper derives the bias expected when the order arrivals follows a Poisson process, which leads to a correction factor for application in practice. Extensions to some other arrival processes are briefly considered.

Suggested Citation

  • E A Shale & J E Boylan & F R Johnston, 2006. "Forecasting for intermittent demand: the estimation of an unbiased average," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 57(5), pages 588-592, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:jorsoc:v:57:y:2006:i:5:d:10.1057_palgrave.jors.2602031
    DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602031
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602031
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602031?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles E. Clark, 1957. "Mathematical Analysis of an Inventory Case," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 5(5), pages 627-643, October.
    2. F R Johnston & J E Boylan & E A Shale, 2003. "An examination of the size of orders from customers, their characterisation and the implications for inventory control of slow moving items," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 54(8), pages 833-837, August.
    3. Syntetos, A. A. & Boylan, J. E., 2001. "On the bias of intermittent demand estimates," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1-3), pages 457-466, May.
    4. F R Johnston & J E Boyland & M Meadows & E Shale, 1999. "Some properties of a simple moving average when applied to forecasting a time series," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 50(12), pages 1267-1271, December.
    5. J. B. Ward, 1978. "Determining Reorder Points When Demand is Lumpy," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(6), pages 623-632, February.
    6. Syntetos, Aris A. & Boylan, John E., 2005. "The accuracy of intermittent demand estimates," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 303-314.
    7. A H C Eaves & B G Kingsman, 2004. "Forecasting for the ordering and stock-holding of spare parts," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 55(4), pages 431-437, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ali Caner Türkmen & Tim Januschowski & Yuyang Wang & Ali Taylan Cemgil, 2021. "Forecasting intermittent and sparse time series: A unified probabilistic framework via deep renewal processes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(11), pages 1-26, November.
    2. Zhu, Sha & Jaarsveld, Willem van & Dekker, Rommert, 2020. "Spare parts inventory control based on maintenance planning," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    3. Evangelos Spiliotis & Spyros Makridakis & Artemios-Anargyros Semenoglou & Vassilios Assimakopoulos, 2022. "Comparison of statistical and machine learning methods for daily SKU demand forecasting," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 3037-3061, July.
    4. A A Syntetos & J E Boylan & S M Disney, 2009. "Forecasting for inventory planning: a 50-year review," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(1), pages 149-160, May.
    5. Pennings, Clint L.P. & van Dalen, Jan & van der Laan, Erwin A., 2017. "Exploiting elapsed time for managing intermittent demand for spare parts," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 258(3), pages 958-969.
    6. Syntetos, Aris A. & Zied Babai, M. & Gardner, Everette S., 2015. "Forecasting intermittent inventory demands: simple parametric methods vs. bootstrapping," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(8), pages 1746-1752.
    7. Wang, Shengjie & Kang, Yanfei & Petropoulos, Fotios, 2024. "Combining probabilistic forecasts of intermittent demand," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 315(3), pages 1038-1048.
    8. Babai, M. Zied & Ali, Mohammad M. & Nikolopoulos, Konstantinos, 2012. "Impact of temporal aggregation on stock control performance of intermittent demand estimators: Empirical analysis," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 713-721.
    9. G. Peter Zhang & Yusen Xia & Maohua Xie, 2024. "Intermittent demand forecasting with transformer neural networks," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 339(1), pages 1051-1072, August.
    10. Petropoulos, Fotios & Apiletti, Daniele & Assimakopoulos, Vassilios & Babai, Mohamed Zied & Barrow, Devon K. & Ben Taieb, Souhaib & Bergmeir, Christoph & Bessa, Ricardo J. & Bijak, Jakub & Boylan, Joh, 2022. "Forecasting: theory and practice," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 705-871.
      • Fotios Petropoulos & Daniele Apiletti & Vassilios Assimakopoulos & Mohamed Zied Babai & Devon K. Barrow & Souhaib Ben Taieb & Christoph Bergmeir & Ricardo J. Bessa & Jakub Bijak & John E. Boylan & Jet, 2020. "Forecasting: theory and practice," Papers 2012.03854, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2022.
    11. Zhu, Sha & Dekker, Rommert & van Jaarsveld, Willem & Renjie, Rex Wang & Koning, Alex J., 2017. "An improved method for forecasting spare parts demand using extreme value theory," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 261(1), pages 169-181.
    12. Corey Ducharme & Bruno Agard & Martin Trépanier, 2024. "Improving demand forecasting for customers with missing downstream data in intermittent demand supply chains with supervised multivariate clustering," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(5), pages 1661-1681, August.
    13. F R Johnston & E A Shale & S Kapoor & R True & A Sheth, 2011. "Breadth of range and depth of stock: forecasting and inventory management at Euro Car Parts Ltd," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 62(3), pages 433-441, March.
    14. Wang, Wenbin & Syntetos, Aris A., 2011. "Spare parts demand: Linking forecasting to equipment maintenance," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(6), pages 1194-1209.
    15. Prak, Derk & Teunter, Rudolf & Babai, M. Z. & Syntetos, A. A. & Boylan, D, 2018. "Forecasting and Inventory Control with Compound Poisson Demand Using Periodic Demand Data," Research Report 2018010, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    16. Spiliotis, Evangelos & Makridakis, Spyros & Kaltsounis, Anastasios & Assimakopoulos, Vassilios, 2021. "Product sales probabilistic forecasting: An empirical evaluation using the M5 competition data," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    17. Altay, Nezih & Litteral, Lewis A. & Rudisill, Frank, 2012. "Effects of correlation on intermittent demand forecasting and stock control," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(1), pages 275-283.
    18. R Fildes & K Nikolopoulos & S F Crone & A A Syntetos, 2008. "Forecasting and operational research: a review," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 59(9), pages 1150-1172, September.
    19. A A Syntetos & M Z Babai & Y Dallery & R Teunter, 2009. "Periodic control of intermittent demand items: theory and empirical analysis," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(5), pages 611-618, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. A A Syntetos & M Z Babai & Y Dallery & R Teunter, 2009. "Periodic control of intermittent demand items: theory and empirical analysis," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(5), pages 611-618, May.
    2. G. Peter Zhang & Yusen Xia & Maohua Xie, 2024. "Intermittent demand forecasting with transformer neural networks," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 339(1), pages 1051-1072, August.
    3. Prak, Derk & Teunter, Rudolf & Babai, M. Z. & Syntetos, A. A. & Boylan, D, 2018. "Forecasting and Inventory Control with Compound Poisson Demand Using Periodic Demand Data," Research Report 2018010, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    4. Boylan, J.E. & Syntetos, A.A., 2007. "The accuracy of a Modified Croston procedure," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 511-517, June.
    5. Syntetos, Aris A. & Boylan, John E., 2006. "On the stock control performance of intermittent demand estimators," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 36-47, September.
    6. Zied Babai, Mohamed & Syntetos, Aris & Teunter, Ruud, 2014. "Intermittent demand forecasting: An empirical study on accuracy and the risk of obsolescence," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 212-219.
    7. Jože Martin Rožanec & Blaž Fortuna & Dunja Mladenić, 2022. "Reframing Demand Forecasting: A Two-Fold Approach for Lumpy and Intermittent Demand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-21, July.
    8. R H Teunter & L Duncan, 2009. "Forecasting intermittent demand: a comparative study," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(3), pages 321-329, March.
    9. Bacchetti, Andrea & Saccani, Nicola, 2012. "Spare parts classification and demand forecasting for stock control: Investigating the gap between research and practice," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 722-737.
    10. Teunter, Ruud H. & Syntetos, Aris A. & Zied Babai, M., 2011. "Intermittent demand: Linking forecasting to inventory obsolescence," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 214(3), pages 606-615, November.
    11. Kourentzes, Nikolaos, 2013. "Intermittent demand forecasts with neural networks," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 198-206.
    12. Kourentzes, Nikolaos, 2014. "On intermittent demand model optimisation and selection," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 180-190.
    13. Li, Chongshou & Lim, Andrew, 2018. "A greedy aggregation–decomposition method for intermittent demand forecasting in fashion retailing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(3), pages 860-869.
    14. Pennings, Clint L.P. & van Dalen, Jan & van der Laan, Erwin A., 2017. "Exploiting elapsed time for managing intermittent demand for spare parts," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 258(3), pages 958-969.
    15. Babai, M.Z. & Dallery, Y. & Boubaker, S. & Kalai, R., 2019. "A new method to forecast intermittent demand in the presence of inventory obsolescence," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 30-41.
    16. Prak, Dennis & Teunter, Ruud & Babai, Mohamed Zied & Boylan, John E. & Syntetos, Aris, 2021. "Robust compound Poisson parameter estimation for inventory control," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    17. Syntetos, Aris A. & Boylan, John E., 2010. "On the variance of intermittent demand estimates," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(2), pages 546-555, December.
    18. Snyder, Ralph D. & Ord, J. Keith & Beaumont, Adrian, 2012. "Forecasting the intermittent demand for slow-moving inventories: A modelling approach," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 485-496.
    19. K Nikolopoulos & A A Syntetos & J E Boylan & F Petropoulos & V Assimakopoulos, 2011. "An aggregate–disaggregate intermittent demand approach (ADIDA) to forecasting: an empirical proposition and analysis," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 62(3), pages 544-554, March.
    20. Moon, Seongmin & Hicks, Christian & Simpson, Andrew, 2012. "The development of a hierarchical forecasting method for predicting spare parts demand in the South Korean Navy—A case study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(2), pages 794-802.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:jorsoc:v:57:y:2006:i:5:d:10.1057_palgrave.jors.2602031. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.