2. What type of facilities and technology will the company need to buy in order to assemble this product?

Weldon Hand Tools, one of the most successful of the European hand tool manufacturers, decided to move into the ‘woodworking’ tools market. Previously, its products had been confined to car maintenance, home decorating and general hand tools. One of the first products that it decided to manufacture was a general-purpose ‘smoothing plane’, a tool that smooths and shapes wood. Its product designers devised a suitable design, and the company’s work measurement engineers estimated the time it would take (in standard minutes) to perform each element in the assembly process. The marketing department also estimated the likely demand (for the whole European market) for the new product. Its sales forecast is shown in the table below.

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Table - Sales forecast for smoothing plane Time period Volume Year 1 First quarter 98,000 units Second quarter 140,000 units Third quarter 140,000 units Fourth quarter 170,000 units Year 2 First quarter 140,000 units Second quarter 170,000 units Third quarter 200,000 units Fourth quarter 230,000 units