A manufacturer of industrial seafood processing equipment (scaler) wants you to develop an aggregate plan for the six quarters of the upcoming year and a half using the following data on demand and capacity, along with cost numbers/per unit. Demand for 6 quarters are as follows Q1 400, Q2 850, Q3 1,000, Q4 450, Q5 925, Q6 1,100. Overtime capacity for the planning period is 200 units/quarter. The manufacture's subcontractor can supply 250 units/quarter, if needed. Initial inventory is 250 units. Regular time cost is $7.50/unit. Overtime costs $4.00 extra/unit. The subcontracting cost is $13.75/unit. Carrying cost is $5.75/unit/quarter. To increase staffing it's $35/unit, and $50/unit to decrease staffing. Stock-out cost is $8.55 per unit. Previous quarter's output was 500 units. No back-ordering is allowed.

a. Produce utilizing a strategy that varies the workforce based on the prior quarter. This will be Plan A. What is the cost of the plan? [ Select ] ["$109,661", "$124,368", "$117,260", "$94,350", "$93,360"] . Were any sales lost during the planning period? [ Select ] ["yes, 350 units", "no, there was no lost sales based on varying the workforce", "yes, 8,750 units", "yes, 200 units", "no, because of matching the staffing to demand levels"]

b. Produce utilizing a level strategy by producing at a rate of the 570 for the planning period. This will be Plan B. What is the cost of the plan? [ Select ] ["$53,900", "$101,890", "$67,892", "$55,458", "$41,030"] Was there a need to carry over inventory throughout the planning period? [ Select ] ["yes, 680 units", "no, because regular production met demand levels overall", "yes, 2,075 units", "yes, 1,055 units", "no, since there were lost sales."]

c. Produce utilizing a mixed strategy producing 350 units per quarter, then utilizing overtime and subcontracting, if needed (refer to the capacity limits). This will be Plan C. What is the cost of this plan? [ Select ] ["$65,678", "$85,478", "$51,781", "$42,525", "$94,567"]

d. Based on cost, which plan should be selected? [ Select ] ["Cannot determine based on incomplete data", "Plan A", "Plan C", "Plan B", "either Plan B or C, based on the same overall cost"]