1. Cement Manufacturer An Indonesian leading cement manufacturing company has five production plants and a large stockists base. The company produces different types of cement and sells it under a number of brands. The management wanted to improve factory's production planning and dispatches. The main objective of the company was to do this planning in such a way that the contribution by way of determining optimal production and dispatch plans. The sales take place through stockists spread across seven main different islands every month. The movement of material takes place either directly from the plants or through their depots. The company has 75 depots, called Stock Point Offices (SPOs). The company's production plants, SPOs, branch offices and their corporate office are all connected through an intranet and almost all of their routine business transactions are computerised. The problem is that the sale prices of cement are subject to fluctuations and cannot be known at the time of planning. Moreover, plan the productions at various plants will depend solely on the customer requirements. Majority of the requirements are received from the stockists through the intranet in the form of orders and a small negligible portion is received by other means. Currently, the decisions were being made by the management based on their experience and expertise. The size and complexity of the problem made the company realize the necessity and importance of having a decision support system. How could you improve the production planning process? Is there any technological solution to optimize the existing system? What is your suggestion?