Chain Reaction ep 40: the demand planning mistake everyone's making

Chain Reaction episode 40 is out now and it goes straight at one of the most persistent frustrations in supply chain planning: organisations that invest heavily in forecasting tools and planning systems, yet still struggle with service levels, high costs and planners who spend their days firefighting rather than planning. Simon Eagle, a supply chain consultant with deep experience working across planning and operations, makes the case that the forecasts themselves are rarely the core problem. The conversation challenges a comfortable assumption: that better data or more sophisticated software will close the gap between plan and reality. Eagle's argument is more uncomfortable, that how forecasts are being used, and how planning processes are structured around them, is where most organisations go wrong. Listeners working in demand planning, supply chain management or logistics operations will recognise the patterns he describes, even if the diagnosis is not what they were expecting. This matters for logistics professionals because demand planning sits upstream of every capacity, fulfilment and transport decision. When plans are built on forecasts that are technically sound but operationally misapplied, the consequences land hardest on warehouse teams, hauliers and 3PLs managing collections and deliveries that do not match what was committed. Eagle's perspective is practical and directed at people running real operations, not at software vendors looking for a use case. Episode 40 of Chain Reaction is available now on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/_2mFuBCwEes, listen on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/episode/0c0jIg6OUNKjidEhGZnkGS?si=rsJZE6UzRPy98ZinCq-BPA or find it on Apple Podcasts at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-40-the-demand-planning-mistake-everyones-making/id1816207986?i=1000761953408.