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Volta Apparel Inc. is contemplating constructing a new facility to manufacture ladies' apparel ( shirts ) at Keta. Mr . Kwaku Kobla is the newly

Volta Apparel Inc. is contemplating constructing a new facility to manufacture ladies' apparel (shirts) at Keta. Mr. Kwaku Kobla is the newly appointed Plant Manager, who will oversee the Keta plant. You have been appointed as the Operations Consultant to advise him and assist him. Volta has another similar facility in Accra. The actual demand for shirts (manufactured in the Accra plant for the last 4 years) is presented below:Season and YearActual DemandQuarter1 and 2005482Quarter2 and 2005213Quarter 3 and 2005116Quarter 4 and 2005335Quarter 1 and 2006499Quarter 2 and 2006225Quarter 3 and 2006122Quarter 4 and 2006344Quarter 1 and 2007503Quarter 2 and 2007237Quarter 3 and 2007127Quarter 4 and 2007349Quarter 1 and 2008518Quarter 2 and 2008244Quarter 3 and 2008133Quarter 4 and 2008353 A. Based on the information above, prepare a demand forecast for 2009 for the new facility at Keta. (Hint: You could use any forecasting technique. However, you should have a sound rationale for your decision based on the type of data given to you. State assumptions, if any). Supposing Kwaku comes up with a forecast to sell 300 units per quarter for the year 2009, do you think his forecast would be any better than your forecast? Explain. B. The maximum number of units (of shirts) that the Keta plant can ideally manufacture is 600 units per quarter. The number of units (of shirts) that the Keta plant can manufacture after considering scheduling problems, quality issues, etc is 350 units per quarter. Kwaku tells you that the fixed cost for running the Keta plant per year is estimated to be $100,000 and the variable cost per unit of production is estimated to be $80. Variable cost of production includes the material cost & and machining cost only. Direct labor cost also needs to be considered. The average revenue per unit of sale is estimated to be $250. C. Based on your overall production plan, calculate the efficiency and utilization levels (for each quarter in 2009) if you produced as per your overall production plan. (Hint: Use efficiency and utilization concepts to compute these values). Do you think you can break even in the year 2009 by producing as per your production plan? Explain how you got your break-even point. D. Kwaku also wants your help in deciding on the type of manufacturing process and the type of facility layout for the Keta facility. (Hint: There are four types of processes Job Shop, Batch Shop, Assembly Line, and Continuous Processing. There are four types of layouts Product layout, process layout, cellular layout, and fixed position layout). Explain your rationale clearly for choosing a particular process and a layout. E. Explain and Outline to Mr. Kwaku Kobla the sequence of steps involved in choosing the appropriate location for the construction of the new facility to manufacture ladies' apparel (shirts) such as Keta, considering the factors that affect location decisions. F. Suggest to Mr. Kwaku Kobla how would you ensure (determine) that the products (ladies' shirts) from the new facility to manufacture ladies' apparel quality meet the quality requirements of the market. G. Based on the annual demand, assist the company to come up with a robust Inventory management system employing the economic order quantity model (EOQ) when the ordering costs of $50 per order and the annual carrying cost is $75 per bag. (no. of working days =300)

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