In 2020, a total of 9559 Nissan Leafs were sold in the US. For the 12-month period starting January 2020 and ending December 2020, the detailed sales numbers are as follows: 651, 808, 514, 174, 435, 426, 687, 582, 662, 1551, 1295 and 1774 units.

before the Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, started to produce the Nissan Leaf they were imported from Japan. Although cars are now assembled in the US, some components still imported from Japan. Assume that the lead time from Japan is one weeks for shipping. Recall that the critical electrode material is imported from Japan. Each battery pack consists of 48 modules and each module contains four cells, for a total of 192 cells. Assume that each unit (= the amount required for an individual cell in the battery pack) has a value of $3 and an associated carrying cost of 30%. Moreover, assume that Nissan is responsible for holding the inventory since the units are shipped from Japan. We suppose that placing an order costs $500. Assume that Nissan wants to provide a 99.9% service level for its assembly plant because any missing components will force the assembly lines to come to a halt. Use the 2020 demand observations to estimate the annual demand distribution assuming demand for Nissan Leafs is normally distributed. For simplicity, assume there are 360 days per year, 30 days per month, and 7 days per week.

(c) What is the total annual inventory cost? (d) What is the reorder point with respect to the inventory position?