1. L. Bean is also considering procuring the Mountain Puffer jacket from a supplier called American Textiles. American Textiles has a lead time of 1 month, but charges L.L. Bean $70 per jacket L.L. Bean procures. Suppose that all customers shopping for jackets will do so before December, and that customers are willing to wait several weeks to receive their order. Should L.L. Bean plan to procure any jackets from American Textiles?
2. Some products are both ``never out'' and ``all year.'' For example, L.L. Bean's Signature Jeans Classic cut have been sold year-round since 1981. L. Bean's supplier of jeans is Denim Expert Ltd, which charges $20 per pair of jeans L.L. Bean orders. Denim Expert Ltd also charges a shipping fee of $1000 per order, regardless of size. Denim Expert Ltd quotes L.L. Bean a 2 quarter lead time. L.L. Bean does not liquidate its inventory of jeans at the end of a season, because the jeans are sold all year. However, L.L. Bean does incur a holding cost of $1 per pair of jeans per year. Based on the data provided, what inventory policy would you propose L.L. Bean use to minimize their inventory-related costs while ensuring a 99% service level for the Signature Jeans Classic Cut? Assume there are 52 weeks in a year.
3. Rol Fessenden expressed concern about L.L. Bean's forecasting method. He thinks that forecasting errors might vary across groups of products, though the product groupings he has considered (e.g. grouping by product category, grouping by buyer) have not demonstrated systematically different errors. What groups of products (that Rol hasn't tested) would you expect to have systematically different forecasting errors? In a few sentences, describe how and why you expect the forecasting errors to be different across these groups of products.

1990 New Products

ITEM	FORECAST	ACTUAL
3-in-1 Ski-Vertible Jacket	9700	11578
Adventure Duffle Bag	100	107
Bayside Belt	1200	1619
Bayside Walking Shorts	7900	10982
Boat and Tote Bag	200	196
Boat Mocs, Slide	9200	10421
Camp Mocs	5000	4288
Canvas Drawstring Skirt	4900	4911
Canvas Purse	1900	2328
Cashmere-Lined Leather Gloves	1800	2551
Casual Friday Polo	5500	9132
Charles Street Tassel Loafers	7200	11922
Classic Poplin Shirt	9500	4937
CoolMax Jersey Tank	1600	1730
Cotton Crew Socks	8500	8254
Country Plaid Camp Pants	3500	4055
Cresta Ultralight Pants	2100	2941
Deluxe Safety Vest	2200	2059
Emerger Wading Jacket	8700	7226
Fingerless Sun Gloves	3000	2412
Five-Pocket Twill Pants	5300	4738
Flannel Pajamas	8000	11816
Floral Print Swim Dress	9400	19216
Flyweight Waders	1600	1232
Garterstitch Cardigan	20000	15972
H2OFF Trench Coat	7300	10774
Heat Factory Gloves	1500	754
Herringbone Braid Belt	700	984
Hunter's Field Coat	9000	10362
Insulated Hikers	4200	5930
L.L.Bean Logo Hunting Caps	2900	3185
Lined Bayside Twills	6500	3736
Mediatation Yoga Wear Top	3000	2403
Microsuede Skirt	500	361
Modern Knit Crew	27000	28234
Moose River Hat	100	114
Mountain Walker Hat	900	839
PacLite Wading Jacket	9300	8005
Polartec Sandal Socks	1000	1134
Polartec Super 200 Fleece Vest	9600	7384
Power Dry Crewneck	18000	29070
Reversible Down Jacket	9100	7814
Ridge Runner Jacket	9600	5795
Scoopneck Supima Nightgown	8400	10566
Seersucker Knit Shirt	10000	20818
Silk Scoopneck	800	1042
SmartWool Hiking Socks	600	498
Sperry Swordfish	6000	4336
Straw Sun Hat	2700	2498
Stretch Gabardine Trench Coat	7300	4799
Stretch Web Belt	1600	2793
Summer Stripe Polo	7000	6244
Sunwashed Canvas Shorts	3900	4602
Swix Ski Gloves	6600	4776
Torrent Stretch Parka	15000	30471
Torrent Twill Parka	6700	6905
Traditional Wool Cruiser Vest	2400	3546
Trail Model Rain Pants	13000	14486
Travel Umbrella	1200	1394
Tropic Weight Flight Jacket	9500	13621
Tulip Collar Sweater	12000	8431
Two-Layer River Driver's Shirt	4500	4675
Upland Field Coat	10000	12207
Wicked Good Clogs	800	657
Windbloc Fleece Vest	21000	21656
Wool Blazer Coat	7300	6834
Wool Clogs	200	186
Wool Toggle Coat	9200	8243
Wool Tweed Blazer	7400	5326
Wool/Cashmere Blazer	9000	4448
Wool/Cashmere Coat	7700	9109

Signature Jeans

QUARTER	YEAR	ITEM	FORECAST	ACTUAL
1	1981	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12176	11914
2	1981	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11782	12143
3	1981	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11965	11983
4	1981	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12124	11970
1	1982	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12251	12210
2	1982	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11990	11828
3	1982	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12029	11908
4	1982	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12090	12378
1	1983	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12234	12337
2	1983	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11826	12485
3	1983	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12003	11599
4	1983	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11727	11696
1	1984	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11747	12266
2	1984	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11955	11909
3	1984	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12263	11769
4	1984	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11944	11984
1	1985	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12188	11929
2	1985	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12071	12099
3	1985	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11511	11884
4	1985	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12090	11831
1	1986	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12032	12119
2	1986	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11669	12250
3	1986	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11944	12380
4	1986	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12125	12198
1	1987	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11781	12140
2	1987	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11948	11854
3	1987	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11910	12282
4	1987	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11915	12109
1	1988	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11799	11815
2	1988	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12095	12064
3	1988	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12227	12019
4	1988	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11940	11979
1	1989	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11791	12190
2	1989	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12146	11859
3	1989	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12088	12028
4	1989	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11937	11936
1	1990	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11716	11876
2	1990	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11778	11763
3	1990	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	11781	12099
4	1990	Signature Jeans Classic Cut	12040	11926