You are in a senior operational role with a global manufacturing business, responsible for running its warehousing operations worldwide. During the past decade, your organization has rationalized and relocated many of its manufacturing facilities, including moving some activities to outsourced providers in India and China. The business has also expanded and reshaped its supply chain in line with these changes. The challenging economic conditions of the past two years have put significant strains on the business, making cost-cutting the key focus, not least in supply chain operations. But now, with the global economy recovering, consumers in your existing markets — and even more so in some emerging markets, which the company is just entering — are regaining confidence and are eager to buy your products. So you are now trying to forecast this, along with gearing up manufacturing to meet rising demand.