$(12$ Marks$)$

QUESTION $3$

Mooremarsh is a beer bottle producing firm. They are in a predicament. Their forecaster has just resigned and now they have employed a new industrial engineer $($You$).$ You are required to produce the forecast for the next $3$ months of production.

Table $3$ below shows the demand for the prior $12$ months.

Table $3$

$\backslash$table$[[$Month$,$Demand$],[$January$,2232],[$February$,2234],[$March$,2692],[$April$,2302],[$May$,2443],[$June$,2522],[$July$,2344],[$August$,2433],[$September$,1987],[$October$,2234],[$November$,2732],[$December$,2988]]$

A$)$ Determine the forecast for January using the $3$ month simple moving average technique.

$(4$ marks$)$

B$)$ Using the sum of least squares linear regression technique determine the forecast for the next three months.

$(12$ marks$)$

C$)$ Discuss whether these techniques are appropriate for this type of forecast.

$(4$ marks$)$