Following Stephen Hawking's example, here is a Brief History of Flowcasting - starting with the immortal words of Dr. Joe Orlicky, "Never forecast what you can calculate"!

1. HISTORY OF FLOWCASTING
A number of important developments have contributed to the
history and evolution of Flowcasting. This timeline depicts
these events and chronicles the pioneering work of Andre
Martin, Darryl Landvater, Jeff Harrop and Mike Doherty.
Flowcasting, like any paradigm
change, is the result of many years
of developments pushing the needle
forward. The architects of
Flowcasting owe Dr. Orlicky a huge
debt of gratitude when he uttered the
profound truth that “one should
never forecast what one can
calculate.”
Want to learn more or get
more details?
Flowcastingbook.com
DEMANDCLARITY.COM
Dr. Joe Orlicky invents
Manufacturing Resource
Planning, implements at
Black & Decker. Profoundly
says, “never forecast what
you can calculate!
JOE ORLICKY and MRP
Andre Martin publishes DRP
book and DRP becomes
widely acknowledged as the
standard approach for
planning distribution
operations.
DRP BOOK
Andre Martin invents
Distribution Resource Planning
(DRP). He and Darryl
Landvater implement at Abbott
Labs in Montreal.
ANDRE MARTIN and DRP
Andre Martin helps Sears
USA to become the first
retailer in the world to use
DRP and supplier scheduling
for selected product
categories.
DRP IN RETAIL
Andre Martin publishes
Infopartnering, which
outlines the concepts of an
information supply chain
and connectivity to the end
consumer, or end
consumption.
INFOPARTNERING BOOK
LogicCNet software developed
by Andre Martin and Jim
Andress (of IRI) for store-level
planning. Early pilots with
Giant Foods, Kelloggs and
Price Chopper prove the
concept and set stage for
commercial software.
EARLY PILOTS
FLOWCASTING BOOK
Darryl Landvater and
Andre Martin help Kraft
Foods to use Flowcasting
to drive production and
distribution planning
from a forecast at the
store/shelf for it’s largest
retail customer.
KRAFT PILOTS FLOWCASTING
Andre Marting and Darryl
Landvater help SONY
Canada to implement
Flowcasting to manage
inventories in their SONY
Style stores across
Canada.
SONY CANADA FLOWCASTS
FLOWCASTING IN MEXICO
Mike Doherty, Jeff Harrop
and Darryl Landvater help
implement Flowcasting for
Princess Auto in Winnipeg,
Canada. They are the first
retailer to manage their
entire business using the
process and are managing
to a single set of numbers,
including supplier
scheduling and Retail Sales
& Operations Planning
(S&OP).
A FIRST AT PRINCESS AUTO
1964
1977
1983
1986
1994
1995
A team led by Mike Doherty
and Jeff Harrop design
Flowcasting at Canadian
Tire. Canadian Tire becomes
the first retailer to
implement DC-level DRP and
supplier scheduling for all
products and all suppliers.
DRP IN RETAIL
1999
2006
Andre Martin, Mike
Doherty and Jeff Harrop
publish Flowcasting the
Retail Supply Chain. The
book outlines the
planning process and
documents how
Flowcasting solves
chronic planning
problems like
promotions, seasonal
planning, and slow
sellers.
2008
2009
Mike Doherty and Andre
Martin pilot Flowcasting with
Sigma Alimentos and one of
their major retail customers
in Mexico. The pilot leads to
a company rollout.
2013
2015
Andre Martin and Darryl
Landvater leave consulting to
build software capable of
enabling Flowcasting for any
sized retailer, both small and
very large.
SOFTWARE AVAILABLE
1997