Hazel had worked for the same Fortune 500 company for almost 15 years. Although the company had gone through some tough times, things were starting to turn around. Customer orders were up, and quality and productivity had improved dramatically from what they had been only a few years earlier due to a company wide quality improvement program. So it came as a real shock to Hazel and about 400 of her coworkers when they were suddenly terminated following the new CEO.

Hazel is the operations manager of her business. Among her responsibilities are forecasting, inventory management, scheduling, quality assurance, and maintenance.

a. What kinds of things would likely require forecasts?

b. What inventory items does Hazel probably have? Name one inventory decision she has to make periodically.

c. What scheduling must she do? What things might occur to disrupt schedules and cause Hazel to reschedule?