read the case study and answer the two questions in case study format

M&L Manufacturing makes various components for printers and copi$-$

ers. In addition to supplying these items to a major manufacturer, the

company distributes these and similar items to office supply stores and

computer stores as replacement parts for printers and desktop copiers.

In all, the company makes about $20$ different items. The two markets

$($the major manufacturer and the replacement market$)$ require somewhat

different handling. For example, replacement products must be pack$-$

aged individually whereas products are shipped in bulk to the major

manufacturer.

The company does not use forecasts for production planning. Instead,

the operations manager decides which items to produce and the batch

size, based on orders and the amounts in inventory. The products that

have the fewest amounts in inventory get the highest priority. Demand is

uneven, and the company has experienced being overstocked on some

items and out of others. Being understocked has occasionally created

tensions with the managers of retail outlets. Another problem is that

prices of raw materials have been creeping up$,$ although the operations

manager thinks that this might be a temporary condition.

Because of competitive pressures and falling profits, the manager

has decided to undertake a number of changes. One change is to intro$-$

duce more formal forecasting procedures in order to improve produc$-$

tion planning and inventory management.

With that in mind, the manager wants to begin forecasting for two

products. These products are important for several reasons. First, they

account for a disproportionately large share of the company's profits.

Second, the manager believes that one of these products will become

increasingly important to future growth plans; and third, the other prod$-$

uct has experienced periodic out$-$of$-$stock instances.

The manager has compiled data on product

demand for the two products from order records

for the previous $14$ weeks. These are shown in the following table.

$*$Unusual order due to flooding of customer's warehouse.

Questions

What are some of the potential benefits of a more formalized

approach to forecasting?

Prepare a weekly forecast for the next four weeks for each prod$-$

uct. Briefly explain why you chose the methods you used. $($Hint: For

product $2,$ a simple approach, possibly some sort of naive$/$intuitive

approach, would be preferable to a technical approach in view of the

manager's disdain of more technical methods.$)$