An organisation that manufactures and sells brass bells is preparing a production budget to determine how many bells they will need to produce in the quarter from 1 October to 31 December. They expect to sell 16,000 bells during the quarter and plan to have a closing inventory of 3000 bells. At the beginning of the quarter, they only have 500 bells in inventory.

The number of bells that the organisation is required to produce in the quarter is:

a) 19,000

b) 16,000

c) 19,500

d) 18,500

Which one and why?