Investigating the effect of weather on consumer demand in Loblaw's supply chain

天气的变化不仅影响日常生活，还会影响消费者对许多产品的需求，从而给企业带来财务风险。政府鼓励零售商在季节开始前很久就下单购买对天气敏感的产品，但历史表明，意外的天气模式（例如异常温和的冬天）可能导致需求大幅下降，给企业带来巨大损失，并影响整体经济活动。例如，低于正常温度将导致其天气敏感产品的库存水平高于正常水平。众所周知，在供应链管理中，错误的产品在错误的时间、错误的地点库存是要花钱的。因此，公司需要一个模型来确定产品需求和温度之间的关系。使用该模型，公司将受益于确定需求并为客户保持最佳的货架可用性，同时保持其配送中心的容量和安全库存要求。

Changes in weather affect not only daily lives but also pose financial risks to businesses by influencingconsumer demand for many products. Retailers are encouraged to place orders for weather-sensitive productslong before a season starts, but history has shown that unexpected weather patterns (an abnormally mild winter,for example) can result in significant drops in demand, leading to huge losses for companies and impactingoverall economic activity. For example, a below-normal temperature will cause a higher-than-normal inventorylevel in its weather-sensitive products. It is well understood in supply chain management that inventory of thewrong product in the wrong place at the wrong time costs money. Therefore the company requires a model thatcould determine the relationship between the demand for the product and temperature. Using this model, thecompany would benefit from determining demand and maintaining the optimal on-shelf availability forcustomers while maintaining capacity and safety stock requirements at its distribution centers.