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Agentic Forge

Services

What we build, and what you get out of it

Three services. Each one is described for a buyer who does not already use the terminology — because if the vocabulary were already familiar, the enablement stage would not need to exist.

S&OP Planning

Sales and operations planning is the routine — usually monthly — in which a business agrees one shared view of what it expects to sell, and therefore what it needs to make, buy and hold. Most businesses already do a version of this in spreadsheets and meetings. The two services below replace the guesswork in it: one estimates demand, the other converts that estimate into stock and ordering decisions.

Demand Forecasting

An evidence-based estimate of how much of each product will sell, where, and when.

What it does

Demand forecasting is the practice of using your own sales history — together with what you already know about seasonality, promotions, pricing and outlet mix — to estimate future sales for each product at each location. Instead of one person's judgement applied across hundreds of items, every item gets a forecast produced the same way, on the same evidence, and measured afterwards against what actually sold. The point is not a perfect number. It is a number you can defend, repeat every cycle, and improve as you learn where it goes wrong.

Who it is for

Businesses ordering or producing on experience and spreadsheets, and paying for it at both ends: stockouts on the lines that move, write-offs and tied-up cash on the lines that do not. Typically an FMCG, distribution or retail operation with enough SKUs and outlets that no one can hold the whole picture in their head.

What you receive

  • A forecast for every product and location, at the time horizon and granularity your planning cycle actually uses
  • Forecast accuracy tracked against real sales each cycle, so the method is accountable rather than assumed
  • An exception list flagging the items where the forecast is not yet trustworthy, and why
  • A back-test comparing the new forecast against your current method over your own historical data
  • Your team trained to read, challenge and override the forecast — not just receive it

A typical engagement

  1. 1Enablement sessions covering what a forecast is, how accuracy is measured, and what it can and cannot tell you
  2. 2Assessment of your sales history: coverage, gaps, and the cleaning required before it can be modelled
  3. 3A baseline forecast produced and back-tested against your existing method over a historical window
  4. 4Configuration against your product hierarchy, locations and planning calendar
  5. 5Go-live, followed by an accuracy review in each planning cycle

Supply Chain Optimisation

Turning the forecast into decisions: how much to hold, when to order, and where to put it.

What it does

A forecast on its own changes nothing. Supply chain optimisation is the step that converts it into the decisions your business actually makes — how much stock to hold of each item, at what point to reorder, how much to order or produce, and which location it should sit in. Every one of those decisions is a trade between two things you cannot maximise at once: the service level you offer your customers, and the cash you have tied up in inventory. This service makes that trade explicit, sets it deliberately, and applies it consistently across your whole range.

Who it is for

Businesses that have a view of demand but no systematic way to act on it, and businesses whose reorder points and safety stock levels were set once — often years ago, often by someone who has since left — and have never been revisited as lead times, volumes and the product range moved on.

What you receive

  • A replenishment and safety-stock policy for each item and location, derived from your demand variability and supplier lead times
  • Reorder recommendations produced on your ordering cycle, ready to review and release
  • Scenario comparison showing what a higher or lower service level costs in inventory, before you commit to it
  • A written, documented set of planning rules your team owns and can maintain without us
  • Visibility of where stock is over- and under-positioned across locations

A typical engagement

  1. 1Enablement sessions on inventory fundamentals: service levels, safety stock, lead-time variability and what drives each
  2. 2An audit of current reorder points, minimum levels and ordering practice, including where they are being overridden and why
  3. 3Parameters fitted to your own demand and lead-time data, then reviewed line by line with your planners
  4. 4A parallel run — recommendations produced alongside your existing process, and the differences examined — before anything is switched over
  5. 5Handover of the documented policy, with a scheduled review as conditions change

Merchandiser Routing

Field coverage planning for teams that visit retail outlets in person.

Merchandiser Routing

Which outlets each merchandiser visits, in what order, on which day.

What it does

If you have merchandisers visiting retail outlets, someone has to decide who covers which outlets and in what sequence. Done by hand, those routes are drawn once, inherited by whoever takes the territory next, and quietly go stale as outlets open, close and change hands. Merchandiser routing rebuilds the plan from the constraints that actually apply: how often each outlet needs visiting, how long a visit takes, how long it takes to travel between them, and how many hours are in a working day. The result is a schedule that fits into real days — and one you can regenerate whenever the outlet base changes, instead of redrawing it by hand.

Who it is for

Businesses running a field merchandising team across retail outlets, where territories were assigned historically, coverage is uneven, and no one can say with confidence how much of the day is being spent driving rather than in store.

What you receive

  • A territory and route plan for each merchandiser, balanced against workload rather than drawn on a map
  • A visit frequency and schedule for every outlet, tied to how much attention it warrants
  • A day-by-day visit sequence that respects travel time and working hours
  • A baseline of your current coverage — travel time, visits achievable per day, outlets being missed — so the change is measurable
  • The ability to regenerate the plan when outlets are added, dropped or reassigned

A typical engagement

  1. 1Enablement sessions on coverage planning: visit frequency, call duration, territory balance and the trade-offs between them
  2. 2Validation of outlet master data and geocoding — the single most common blocker, and usually the longest step
  3. 3Baseline measurement of current routes and coverage
  4. 4Route generation, then a side-by-side comparison against how the territory runs today
  5. 5Phased rollout territory by territory, with the field team's feedback fed back into the plan

Not sure which of these you need?

Most businesses are not, at the start — that is what the discovery and enablement stage is for. Describe how you plan today and we will tell you which of these three would move the needle first, and which can wait.

We reply within two business days.

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