Despite its theoretical shortcomings, Croston’smethod has been successful
in empirical research (see the review in Gardner, 2006) and is
widely used in practice. Both Croston and SES are available in demand
planning modules of component based enterprise and manufacturing
solutions (e.g. Industrial and Financial Systems – IFS AB) and in integrated
real-time sales and operations planning processes (e.g. SAP Advanced
Planning and Optimisation – APO 4.0).