Forecasting the demand for merchandise and toys to support a new Star Wars film always requires a bit of magic and Jedi Arts. How many of each different action figure, light saber and book should be produced? It has been almost 10 years since the last film was released so there is no recent supply chain data to analyze. And, of course, we want to avoid a 1977 style imbalance of the force (between supply and demand) when toys weren’t able to be mass produced in time for the holiday season. What if we forget about the traditional mass production in China model. What if, instead, toy manufacturers should use 3D printing to create action figures and other toys on demand? Here is how it would work.
star wars
Demand Forecasting for Star Wars VII Merchandise – Use the Force
One year from today (December 18, 2015) the seventh episode of the Star Wars saga will be released into movie theaters around the world. The movie will only last two hours, but kids will relive the movie for years afterwards with the Star Wars action figures and other new toys that will accompany the film. Forecasting demand for toys and merchandise associated with a major movie release can be quite challenging. When the original Star Wars action figures were released in late 1977 there was a huge supply shortage the following Christmas.
What Star Wars Can Teach us about Supply Chains
Today is Star Wars Day. And everyone is running around saying “May the Fourth be with You.” So I thought I would publish a post on what I consider to be one of the best supply chain stories of all time. The story is how the toy company, Kenner, confronted with the ultimate challenge of forecasting demand for a new product launch then developed an ingenious solution which ensured it did not miss out on the lost sales due to out of stocks.
Verticalogy by Steve Keifer 