Background
When supply chains outpace visibility
Delta Children, a leading manufacturer of infant and children's furniture, needed more reliable forecasting support to manage inventory and respond to changing market conditions.
Out-of-stock products account for an estimated 25% of lost global revenue annually, making accurate demand planning critical for inventory and supply-chain teams.
Demand planners had to balance data, intuition, and external signals, often using tools that could generate recommendations but not clearly explain them.
At Delta, a Demand Planner is responsible for forecasting customer demand and planning inventory while accounting for factors such as seasonality, trends, and market shifts.
Problem Statement
Smarter forecasting, fewer blind spots
Demand planners struggled with AI tools that gave forecasts without showing the reasoning, making it difficult to trust outputs, catch errors, or justify decisions to cross-functional teams.
How might we help Delta Children's demand planners trust and act on AI-generated forecasts by making the reasoning transparent and the tool feel like a genuine thinking partner?
Why This Mattered
Delta Children operates at a meaningful scale, which makes forecasting errors costly.
Scale
$34M in annual revenue with hundreds of thousands of products sold yearly.
Logistics
Manufacturing in South Carolina and China, with warehouses in California.
Business Goal
Balance operational speed with responsible growth.
DESIGN DIRECTION
Several constraints shaped the direction of Delta
Transparent Reasoning
Delta shows how forecasts were generated so planners can understand and verify outputs.
Explainable Recommendations
Every recommendation includes context, including the data used, assumptions made, and uncertainty involved.
Human-Centered Support
The bot acts as a thinking partner that supports planner judgment rather than replacing it.
These principles guided the design toward explainable outputs and conversational reasoning rather than a black-box forecasting dashboard.
Solution
A conversational AI companion for demand planners, designed to support judgment, not replace it
Delta helps planners navigate supply chain decisions through transparent forecasting, plain-language explanations, and actionable recommendations
Using historical sales data to flag risks before they become costly, and supporting daily workflows through summaries, draft emails, and cross-functional communication.
Transparent Forecasting
Shows the reasoning behind each forecast, including data, patterns, and uncertainty.
Risk Detection
Flags dead-stock and stockout risks before they become costly.
Workflow Support
Helps planners move faster with summaries, draft emails, and cross-functional communication.
