Beyond Accuracy: When Forecasts Meet Cash Flow
Inventory is the moment when a forecast stops being a spreadsheet exercise and starts costing money. A demand model can look elegant in validation. It can shave RMSE by a few decimals, win a leaderboard, and make the data science team briefly feel like civilization has advanced. Then the warehouse over-orders slow-moving stock, the store misses fast-moving items, and the finance team discovers that “better accuracy” is not the same thing as better cash flow. ...