Short lines are forced to look well ahead in order to plan investments, launch new train services, decide when to close or withdraw services and so on. The sales forecasting process is a critical one. Key decisions that are derived from a sales forecast include: - employment levels required;
- promotional mix;
- investment in capacity; and so on.
The first stage in creating the sales forecast is estimating Market Demand, the level of service which will be required by shippers within a defined geographic area adjacent to the short line, within a specified time period, in a perceived environment, otherwise known as the Demand Curve. A sales budget is an estimate of the projected volume of sales. It is primarily used to determine hiring, purchasing, productions and cash flow decisions.
RailWest has a unique perspective and uses tried methodologies to forecast deliveries to locations on a short line rail road, honed by the application of our methodologies to 5 currently active short lines in western Canada.
Last Updated on Monday, 15 November 2010 09:50