The Holt-Winters Approach to Exponential Smoothing: 50 Years Old and Going Strong

Holt-Winters (HW) is the label we frequently give to a set of procedures that form the core of the exponential-smoothing family of forecasting methods. The basic structures were provided by C.C. Holt in 1957 and his student Peter Winters in 1960. Those of you unfamiliar with exponential smoothing should look at the brief tutorial on the next page. In this column, Paul Goodwin discusses recent research that extends the application of the HW method to deal with some important issues faced by the business forecaster. Copyright International Institute of Forecasters, 2010