Tools for a New Demand Forecasting Paradigm 'Individual Demand Forecasting'

Notwithstanding the increasing importance to forecast individual demands, tools for forecasting individual demands has received few attention so far. In this paper we presented three kinds of tools for individual demand forecasting: (1) tools for total customer participation, (2) tools for total value fusion, and (3) tool for net change forecasting. We describe important requirements for the development of each kind of tool and give the short descriptions of the tools and their functions. An important new tool is extended product configuration system, an extension of product configuration system, which may translate demand-related information expressed in commercial language into forecasts in product, demand volume, due date, and price expressed in customers' and expert's language.