NOTE : Can you provide me different answer which is not posted earlier. Also with a word limit of minimum 800.

The Challenge Selling stampings directly to retailers is challenging. Compared to distributors, retailers require shorter lead times and smaller lot sizes. To meet these demands, Bright Star has been filling more and more retail orders out of inventory. While Mr. Liu is pleased with the growth in retail sales, he questions the use of inventory to achieve it. In his opinion, the RMB 0.002 spent per part per month holding inventory is a waste. He has asked his senior management team to come up with a more cost-effective aggregate production plan. Production System The current production plan proceeds as follows: Stamping starts with coiled metal. Metal strip is automatically unwound and fed into a press. A series of dies inside the press progressively shape the metal strip. The process results in finished, stamped parts. Bright Star employs 100 people across stamping, tool repair, measurement, warehousing, and finished prod- uct inspection. On average, 10% of the workforce quits every month. The four part numbers Bright Star manufactures for retailers come off a single stamping line (see Table 1). This specialized line operates 20 days per month, 5 days per week, over three shifts per day. One operator runs the line on each shift. After taking lunch and periodic breaks into account, each operator works 7 hours per shift. It takes 1 week to train a replacement operator. Before stamping can begin, it can take anywhere from 5 to 12 hours to set up a part number (PN). Once it is established, the stamping line produces parts every few seconds. During stamping, the constant pounding of the metal strip between hardened steel tools causes a number of problems. For example, machine parts break and tooling wears. To stay ahead of these issues, the main- tenance manager arranges preventative maintenance every month. Because preventative maintenance requirements need to be balanced with production schedules, corrective maintenance and availability of parts time for preventative maintenance varies. Table 2 summarizes last years preventative maintenance. Even with planned downtime, the stamping line experiences unexpectedly stoppages. The production super- visor tracks unplanned downtime every month. Table 3 summarizes last years unplanned downtime. Interestingly, per Figure 5, there is no relationship between time spent on preventative maintenance and un- planned downtime. In addition to planned and unplanned downtime, schedulers have to contend with scrap. The production man- ager files a scrap report by part number every month. Table 4 summarizes last years scrap. During the latest sales and operations (S&OP) meeting, the sales manager provided a sales forecast for the upcoming year (see Table 5). As most of these numbers were backed by purchase orders, he was very con- fident in the forecast. Mr. Liu would like to make most retail sales to order. At the same time, he requires production planners to be 99.97% confident that there is enough capacity to meet monthly demand. If inventory is needed, he does not want carrying costs to exceed 0.35% of the standard cost of production. If more capacity is needed, he has approved weekend overtime. In the S&OP meeting, both the production and planning managers were pleased to hear overtime was ap- proved. The human resources manager reminded them that according to Chinese labor law, the standard working week is 5 days, 8 hours per day. Per worker, overtime cannot exceed 3 hours per day or 36 hours per month. Overtime must be paid at 50% over base wages. Base wages at Bright Star are RMB 14 per hour. In addition to overtime restrictions, the HR manager explained that all existing employees hold labor contracts with Bright Star. If the aggregate production plan calls for removing associates when demand is low, the HR department, by law, would need to negotiate contract buyouts with individual employees. Mr. Liu has not ap- proved this. The production manager asked about using temporary labor. The HR manager cautioned temporary labor could be used, but only for a few months. The fixed nature of Bright Stars labor costs do not apply to its product design. The logistics manager noted PNs 1, 2, and 4 have all experienced frequent design changes over the last few years. She is still trying to deal with obsolete inventory from last years changes. Only PN 3 is a mature product with no design issues. Mr. Liu closed the meeting by asking his management team to come back next month with a cost-effective aggregate production plan for next year. Questions What aggregate production plan has a 99.7% probability of satisfying demand and meeting Mr. Lius carrying cost requirement? How do the carrying and labor costs of this plan compare against an alternative plan? What weaknesses are associated with the production plan you designed?