Deliverable Length: 500-750 words plus a chart/time line (1 document)
The forecasting department,
traditionally reporting to the sale manager, has historically seen
a forecast accuracy of about 60%, and this in turn causes problems for the
following departments:
- Purchasing:
What should we buy and how much? - Production:
What should we really build? - Inventory management: We keep building the wrong thing.
The sales manager asked you to write her a memo, specifically
addressing the following:
- How could you suggest that your new system would
achieve any better levels of forecast accuracy? - Why is forecast accuracy itself not as important under
traditional methods? - Create a chart
or timeline that includes all of the following: - Which purchase orders have to be placed, and when
- When manufacturing needs to begin, to have products
delivered to a customer - Approximate dates for all of the following:
- When the product must be
shipped to meet the customer’s due date - When the application of the
cover and packaging must take place to meet the customer’s due date - When the manufacturing of the
widget must begin and end - When the raw material for the
widget must be ordered - When the plastic cover must
be ordered - When the cardboard box must
be ordered - Includes notes explain your timing calculation
- Assumes all of the following conditions:
- The factory has two
departments: manufacturing and packaging - Product X consists of 3
components - a widget manufactured in the
factory with a total manufacturing lead time of 1 week - a plastic cover purchased
from vendor A with a procurement lead time of 3 weeks - a cardboard shipping box
purchased from vendor B with a procurement lead time of 4 weeks - The widget itself is made
from steel (whose lead time from vendor C is 4 weeks). - It takes 1 day for the cover
to be applied to the product and for the product to be inserted in the
box in the packaging department. - The shipping time to this
customer is in 3 weeks, and you do not want it to be late or early. - Assume you received the
customer order on 1/1/20XX. - Ignore any holidays
- Assume a 5-day work week
- The customer requires the
product to arrive at his location on 3/31/2011
