Question 2

I. Differentiate between independent and dependent variable in forecasting

ii. The last seven weeks of sales at KC car dealership can be seen in Table 2 below.

Table 2

Week	Sales
1	25
2	30
3	27
4	31
5	27
6	29
7	30
8

a. Use a three-period weighted-moving average forecast to determine a forecast for the 8th week using weights of 3, 2, and 1 (where the most recent week receives the highest weight). (Round all forecasts to the nearest whole unit.)

b. Calculate the MAD for this forecast.

c. What does the MAD indicate? [1 mark]

iii. The number of students enrolled in Spring Valley Elementary school has been steadily increasing over the past five years. The School Board would like to forecast enrolment for years 6 and 7 in order to better plan capacity. The past five years enrolment is indicated in table 3:

Table 3

Year	Enrollment
1	220
2	245
3	256
4	286
5	310

Assuming a linear trend, use the tabular method to derive values for:

a. the slope

b. the intercept

c. Forecast period 6 enrollment.

Question 3

i. Sap Manufacturing, a manufacturing company that manufactures football jerseys and located in Port Antonio, Jamaica, is preparing to build a new plant. J's is considering three potential locations that are suitable for the construction of the plant. The fixed and variable costs for the three alternative locations are presented in the table below.

cost	A	B	C
fixed cost($)	700,000	1,000,000	1,100,000
Variable ($ per unit)	28	20	18

a. Identify the range over which each alternative (A, B and C) is best.

ii. A manufacturing firm is considering three potential locations for a new parts manufacturing facility. A consulting firm has assessed three sites based on the four factors supplied by management as critical to the location's success. The factor weights and the consultant team scores are given in table 5 below. Scores are based on 50 = best.

Question 4

a. A fleet repair facility has the capacity to repair 800 trucks per month. However, due to scheduled maintenance of their equipment, management feels that they can repair no more than 600 trucks per month. Last month, two of the employees were absent several days each and only 400 trucks were repaired. What are the utilization and efficiency of the repair shop?

b. Christopher's Cranks uses a machine that can produce 100 cranks per hour. The firm operates 12 hours per day, five days per week. Due to regularly scheduled preventive maintenance, the firm expects the machine to be running during approximately 95% of the available time. Based on experience with other products, the firm expects to achieve an efficiency level for the cranks of 85%. What is the expected weekly output of cranks for this company?

c. What are five (5) techniques that can be used to manage capacity in the short-term.