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M&L Manufacturing Essay

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M&L Manufacturing M&L Manufacturing makes various components for printers and copiers. The company supplies these items to a major manufacturer. The company also distributes these and similar items to office supply stores and computer stores as replacement parts for printers and desktop copiers. In all, the company manufactures about 20 different items to distribute. The two markets (the major manufacturer and the replacement market) require somewhat different handling. Product for the major manufacturer can be shipped in bulk. However, the products for the retail segment must be packaged individually which requires additional handling and expense. Instead of using forecasting for production planning the operations manager decides which …show more content…

Second, excess inventory will be reduced on items that have a lower demand. Third, there should be enhanced credibility with customers due to the better availability of product. Forecasting should also benefit scheduling and labor needs for production. Ultimately, there should be an increase in inventory for products with high demand, a decrease in overall inventory, and reduced operating expenses. 2. Prepare a weekly forecast for the next four weeks for each product. Briefly explain why you chose the methods you used. (Hint: For product 2, a simple approach, possibly some sort of naive/intuitive approach, would be preferable to a technical approach in view of the manager's disdain of more technical methods.) Week Product 1 Product 2 15 92 45 16 93 46 17 93 47 18 93 48 The weighted average was used to obtain data for product one. This method was used because the most recent weeks have the highest likelihood of predicting the upcoming weeks. It is low cost and easily obtained and it is more reflective of the recent occurrences. A simple naive forecasting was used to calculate the second product. This method relies on intuition and takes into account the recent trends. This method was used because of its simple application. M&L Manufacturing Company is an example of a company that could benefit from forecasting. In the past the company has made an educated guess to determine necessary production for

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