Q Search The XYZ Company is a leading producer of garden tools ranging from wheelbarrows, mortar pans, and hand trucks to shovels, rakes, and trowels. The tools are sold in four different product lines ranging from the top-of-the-line Hercules products, which are rugged tools for the toughest jobs, to the Garden Helper products, which are economy tools for the occasional user. The market for garden tools is extremely competitive because of the simple design of the products and the large number of competing producers. In addition, more people are using power tools, such as lawn edgers, hedge trimmers, and thatchers, reducing demand for their manual counterparts. These factors compel XYZ to maintain low prices while retaining high quality and dependable delivery. Garden tools represent a mature industry. Unless new manual products can be developed or a sudden resurgence occurs in home gardening, the prospects for large increases in sales are not bright. Keeping ahead of the competition is a constant battle. No one knows this better than Tariq Ameen, CEO of XYZ. The types of tools sold today are, by and large, the same ones sold 30 years ago. The only way to generate new sales and retain old customers is to provide superior customer service and produce a product with high customer value. This approach puts pressure on the manufacturing system, which has been having difficulties lately. Recently, Tariq has been receiving calls from long-time customers, such as Metro and Alfatah Stores, complaining about late shipments. These customers advertise promotions for garden tools and require on-time delivery. Tariq knows that losing customers like Metro and Alfatah would be disastrous. He decides to ask consultant Marium Fiaz to look into the matter and report to him in one week. Tariq suggests that she focus on the bow rake as a case in point because it is a high-volume product and has been a major source of customer complaints of late. Planning Bow Rake Production A bow rake consists of a head with 12 teeth spaced 1 inch apart, a hardwood handle, a bow that attaches the head to the handle, and a metal ferrule that reinforces the area where the bow inserts into the handle. The bow is a metal strip that is welded to the ends of the rake head and bent in the middle to form a flat tab for insertion into the handle. The rake is about 64 inches long. Marium decides to find out how XYZ plans bow rake production. She goes straight to Akhter Shahab, who gives the following account: Planning is informal around here. To begin marketing determines the forecast for Pr