This system is used to forecast sales for the different sales locations throughout Canada.

The forecast is generated based on historical sales data to Frito Lay customers based on the brand of product. Some common examples of Frito Lay brands are Lay's(r), Doritos(r), Tostitos(r), Chee-tos(r) and Ruffles(r).

Each week the different brands go on promotion and the price of particular products are reduced at various consumer locations such as grocery stores or variety stores. The forecasting system tracks what stores are having a promotion on each brand for a given week for all the different sales locations in Canada.

Once a week the system generates a forecast of how much product is going to be required at each consumer location for each of the brands. The system uses previous sales information for similar promotions at the same location, as well as some other elements to produce the forecast. The forecast is reviewed by employees at Frito Lay so that they can have input with regards to the forecast. Sometimes the system is unaware of additional factors that can impact the forecast, so the Frito Lay employees have the ability to adjust the estimated sales to the level that they believe is correct. For example if not enough product was available the last time that the sales location requested it, the forecast may be increased to accommodate the product that could not be sent the previous week.

This information is used to make sure that there is enough product produced at the various plants so that everyone who wants to get the product at the reduced price has an opportunity to purchase it.

Once the week of the promotion is over, the actual number of items sold is fed back into the forecasting system. One reason is that this information is used for future forecasts. Another very important reason is so that Frito Lay can track how accurate the forecasts are. It is crucial that the forecasted requirements be as close to the actual requirements as possible. There are many costs that Frito Lay can occur if the forecast is wrong. For example, if the forecast was too high, then too much product will be produced and can go stale and can not be sold. If the forecast was too low, then not enough product will be produced, and Frito Lay can loose out on the opportunity to sell as much product as possible.