You have to make your decisions far in advance with very little information, but with very high service requirements and often assume risks from both sides (the manufacturers and the retailers).

The only way to run profitable, healthy business in these conditions is the ability to turn all available information to your advantage:

• Properly predict customer orders based on shipments history and some available sales information
• Estimate future last minute changes in customer orders, far before the customers even thing about it
• Evaluate the variability of transportation lead time

Only equipped with this information you can set goals on service level and achieve them with minimum risk.