Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment in the Grocery Industry and Defense Commissary Agency

The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) continually strives to improve the level of customer service it provides to its patrons. The DeCA Business Guide: A Business Guide for Marketing to the Defense Commissary Agency provides a foundation for how DeCA conducts business with its suppliers. DeCA's mission is to "ensure military readiness and retention of quality personnel by providing a part of the military compensation package," and its goal is to provide "quality goods at the lowest possible cost to authorized patrons" (2002: 2). This project looks at DeCA's current business processes as well as the relatively new business process of Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment (CPFR) used by some of the major supermarket chains in the commercial grocery industry. In what areas can DeCA realize performance improvements by adopting CPFR? And what strategies would prove effective in implementing CPFR at DeCA? This project is not offering any significant statistical analysis, but it is attempting to provide a further understanding of DeCA's business processes and how those processes may be enhanced through CPFR. In turn, DeCA's mission and goal may not only be more easily met, but DeCA's processes may also become more in line with their commercial counterparts.