12. In an attempt to react to a shifting market, the Isandar Wedge Company reengineered its product line for rate-based manufacturing. Previously, the company competed on product variety, custom tailoring products to meet customer needs on a make-to-order basis. The redesign allows customers to make their own adjustments and enables the company to produce a smaller number of end products to stock, thereby providing immediate delivery.

a. Current inventory for an example product is zero, but the firm wants to build up 100 units of safety stock over the next four weeks. Average demand for the product is expected to be 25 units per week. From week 5 on, the company wants to produce at the demand rate. What should the master production schedule be for this product for the next six weeks.?

b. Isandar now believes the 100-unit safety stock is excessive. Standard deviation of demand per week is 10 units, so a safety stock of 30 provides a service level above 99 percent. If the company is starting with 100 units of safety stock, what MPS results in a safety stock of 30 units in five weeks?