The Forrester effect map is a business technique used to analyse the disturbance on the supply chain of reorder activity.
[2] Forrester's research, (Industrial Dynamics, MIT Press 1961) showed that demand could be erratic with peaks and troughs commonplace within most organizations.
[3] The map is portrayed as a graph with a line showing elements such as customer forecasts, shipments to customers, orders for raw materials on the y-axis, over a period of time shown on the x axis.
Distortion between inventory levels is shown as a result of poor communication and an inability to schedule accurately.
The flatter the lines displayed the leaner the system and more accurate the forecast.