MBA Inc. assembles lawn mowers and snow blowers from subassemblies and component parts provided by reliable vendors. Both products (end items) utilize the same small engines, many of the same parts and require the same assembly time and employee labor skills.

On December 20, the Production Planning Committee of MBA Inc. is due to adopt an aggregate plan for the coming year. The available planning information is as follows:
Information: Demand Forecasts

Quarter Lawn Mowers Snow Blowers
Q - I 10,000 9,000
Q - II 15,000 7,000
Q - III 16,000 19,000
Q - IV 3,000 10,000

Quarter - I Beginning Inventory: Mowers 600; blowers 400
Output and Costs:
Regular Time $5.00 per unit
Overtime $7.50 per unit
Subcontract $10.00 per unit
Part Time $12.00 per unit

Inventory $4.00 per unit per quarter based on avg. inventory during each quarter

Backorders $8.00 per unit per period (based on backorders at end of period)

Hiring $100.00 per employee (Full-Time or Part-Time)

Layoff $500.00 per employee (no cost if Part-Time)

Production Rates:

Regular 500 units per Full-Time employee per quarter (of either unit)

Overtime up to 200 units per Full-Time employee per quarter (of either unit)

Part Time 400 units per Part Time employee per quarter (of either unit)

Production work force:

As of the first of the year, the production work force consists of 44 Full-Time employees.

Additional Assumptions:

1) Part Time employees may not work overtime

2) Assume 100% utilization of Full-Time employees on regular time and of Part Time employees at all times (i.e., all such employees on the payroll during a period produce at the rates shown under Production Rates).

3) Overtime utilization of Full-Time employees can be on an as needed basis subject to the limitation on maximum overtime output shown under Production Rates.

Given all of this planning information, develop a series of aggregate plans to meet the criteria presented in the following series of problems. All plans must include full costs and hiring/layoff actions, as needed.

Show all plans using one of the worksheets at the end of this document.

1. A. Develop an aggregate plan which utilizes a level (constant) rate of output each quarter using only full-time employees without overtime. Ending inventory and backorders for quarter IV must be equal to zero.

B. If each shipping container for a completed mower or blower requires 6 cu. ft. of space, what is the maximum amount of cubic feet of space that would be needed in the finished goods warehouse if your plan 1-A is adopted? (Assume that sales and production occur at a steady, daily rate within each quarter.)

C. If the cost of each completed end item is $200.00, what is the maximum amount of capital that will be tied up in finished goods inventory during the year? (Continue with the assumption given for 1B.)

2. Suppose that on December 21 the long range weather forecast is released by the weather service and more snow than normal is predicted. As a result, the Marketing Dept. raises their forecast for Quarter I sales of blowers from 9,000 to 11,000 units (the forecasts for the other quarters remain
unchanged). You will now have to develop and analyze several alternative plans for next year. Keep in mind that each of these plans must include:

a) Beginning Inv. of 600 mowers and 400 blowers

b) Ending Inventory and backorders for Qtr. IV must be zero

c) Each plan must have the same level total output rate each quarter

A. Develop a plan that uses overtime by regular, full-time employees to meet the new demand conditions.

B. Plan 2-B will use regular employees (no overtime) plus subcontracting to meet the new demand conditions.

C. Another possibility would be to hire an additional full-time employee on Jan. 2 and employ him/her for the full year.

3. The V.P of Marketing is not all that happy with the large volume of backorders in your plan from question 1A . She asks that you develop a plan that requires no backorders at any time during the year. The V.P. of manufacturing says that he will insist that any such plan specify level output each quarter. The V.P. of Finance states that you no longer need to have a Qtr. IV ending inventory of zero but it should be as low as possible.

Use the original demand data, beginning inventory, etc. from problem 1. Develop a plan that will meet the requirements of all three V.P.'s.

4. On Dec. 22 the V.P. Finance informs you that the availability of capital will be extremely tight next year. As a consequence he asks you to develop a radically different type of aggregate plan based on a "Chase" strategy. Ending inventory and backorders is to be zero at the end of each quarter. The V.P. Manufacturing says he realizes this type of strategy will require him to abandon his beloved "level" strategy and for you to vary the total output rate from one quarter to another.

The productivity planning factors for each type of output are repeated here (note that there are some limits in a couple of the categories).

Option Productivity Limitations

Full-Time Employees 500 units/worker/qtr

Overtime (FTE) Up to 200 units/worker/qtr

Subcontract Up to 5000 units/qtr

Part-time Workers 400 units/worker/qtr Up to 25 workers/qtr

Finally, the Personnel Manager informs you that, due to end of the year retirements, only 36 (not 44) fulltime employees will be on the payroll as of Jan 2.

Using the original demand and beginnin