Reference no: EM13753510

ASSESSMENT FOUR: Questions & Marking Guide. 

Introduction 

This assessment focuses on forecasting, scheduling, production planning and supply chain management. 

Many of the questions are calculations and you are encouraged to use a spreadsheet to complete them. 

 

This assessment covers Learning Outcomes 6 and 7.

Probelm 1. State the fundamental problem of Operations Management with regard to Capacity / Demand / Cost Effectiveness. In your answer include the definition and an application of both chase &level strategies in capacity planning, and also of at least one demand management tool. 

Probelm 2. A production plant has an effective capacity of 50000 units / day and is producing3750 units / day due to various hold ups.

a. What is the efficiency of the plant?(show working)

b. If the plant was operating at 68% efficiency what would the output be over one month (20 days)?

c. Construct a diagram showing the four measures of capacity/efficiency. 

Probelm 3. The following data on the number of house sales each month are from a real estate company.

Month in 2014	Sales
January	32
February	33
March	27
April	22
May	25
June	23
July	23
August	27
September	29
October	29
November	33
December	28

a. Plot the monthly sales data on a graph.

b. Forecast the sales for the next month (January 2015) using ;

1. Naïve method (show your working).

2. A 3 month moving average (show your working).

3. A 6 month moving average with weightings of 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3 so that the heaviest weighting applies to the most recent month. (show your working).

4. Exponential smoothing using a weighting of ? = 0.3 and a September forecast of 18. (show your working).

Probelm 4. The data below are from a petrol station forecasting the volume of petrol sold on a weekly basis, in megalitres, using two different methods.

	FORECASTS
Week	Method 1	Method 2		Actual demand
1	0.9	0.80		0.70
2	1.05	1.20		1.00
3	0.95	0.90		1.00
4	1.20	1.11		1.00

a. Calculate MAD for both methods (show your working).

b. Calculate MSE for both methods (show your working).

Probelm 5. a. Using the example of a military uniform manufacturer supplying the NZ Army, Navy Airforce, Police and NZ Fire Service explain the differences between the aggregate production plan and the master production schedule. (You may find diagrams and/or tables useful in answering the question.)

b. The uniform business has to plan its production using the same machining centre for all sewing.  All orders for next year delivery (to be ready for January 30) are received on or before November 20, which is the cut-off date, and production starts on November 30. The business operates 25 days of every month. There is slight variation in the requested delivery dates, and accurate planning is needed to meet the deadlines. Data for this situation is summarised in the table below.

Service	Delivery date	Duration of work (days)
Army	January 13	8
Navy	January 12	16
Airforce	January 25	40
Police	January 14	5
Fire Service	January 14	3

i. Find the order of work using each the four different methods of job ranking - FCFS, EDD, SPT, LPT ?

ii. Explain which method you would use for the best result.

Probelm 6. A contrast in supply chain strategy  is seen when comparing Ooooby and  Eurodell

Visit the company websites and contrast the two approaches outlining the probable differences each business would face in the areas listed below.

a. Purchasing

b. Processing

c. Distribution

Probelm 7. Acting as a business consultant, write a letter to a struggling business person with low productivity, quality problems and a high costs structure to persuade them to consider bringing in JIT under your guidance, for a price of $10,000 over six months.