PERIOD FORECAST DEMAND (UNITS) January 134 February 104 March 319 April 421 May 615 June 682 July 769 August 657 September 577 October 412 November 197 December 159

Beginning and ending inventory

The beginning inventory: 118 units.

Ending inventory: the firm desires to end the year with inventory on hand of 114 units.

Cost information

o Average inventory cost per unit: $3,700.

o Holding cost rate for finished goods inventory: 18%.

The holding cost for raw materials and for WIP is omitted for this planning task o On average, 1 mower unit requires 14 hours of labour to produce, and one worker contributes 160 hours per month (this is an approximation calculated as: 8 hours x 5 days x 4 weeks) o The average cost of the labour hour: $32 o Cost of hiring additional workers (to increase the daily production rate): $1030 per mower unit o Cost of laying off workers (to decrease the daily production rate): $1180 per mower unit.

Q.. The calculation of the total cost of the plan for each strategy (if both strategies are feasible). Include only the relevant cost components that allow the comparison between the two Aggregate Plan approaches (for example, there is no need to include the cost of materials or the overhead) ??