Focuses on a computerized sales forecasting system for the control of automotive spare parts. Outlines the logic of the forecasting method, a refinement of exponential smoothing, together with a method for monitoring forecast errors. Describes experiences in developing, implementing and...

Exponential smoothing, often used for sales forecasting in inventory control, has always been rationalized in terms of statistical models that possess errors with constant variances. It is shown in this paper that exponential smoothing remains the appropriate approach under more general...