Abstract
M.Tech. (Operations Management)
Demand Management (DM) is defined as the process of managing the demand of an organisation so that the right product gets delivered to the right customer at the right time. This study explored DM practices by examining, analysing and evaluating their application in the South African manufacturing industry in general and in the food and beverage industry in particular. The recommendations of the study are intended to benefit both industry and academia. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire which was administered to 79 business managers in food and beverage organisations in Johannesburg. The questionnaire included five sections: General Information, Inventory Management (IM) Practices, Forecasting Practices, Capacity Planning and Outcomes of Practices Used. Validity and reliability were verified using factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. An inter-item correlation matrix was carried out to assess the impact that the different practices have on each other while the linear by linear association the using Chi-square test assessed the impact that each construct had on DM. The findings of this study revealed that all the constructs were inter-related and had a significant relationship with each other as well as a significant relation to DM. Most of the practices mentioned in the literature were applied by organisations. However, although they were effective, they were not necessarily efficient. In other words, organisations were able to do the right job and attain their objectives to maximise profit and meet demand. While this was effective, the organisations were nonetheless failing to minimise losses as their production costs were still high and many products were spoiled due to the length of time before being sold. This generated much waste, which could have been avoided if more efficient DM practices had been followed.