Volta Apparel Inc. is contemplating constructing a new facility to manufacture ladies' apparel $($shirts$)$ at Keta. Mr$.$ Kwaku Kobla is the newly appointed Plant Manager, who will oversee the Keta plant. You have been appointed as the Operations Consultant to advise him and assist him. Volta has another similar facility in Accra. The actual demand for shirts $($manufactured in the Accra plant for the last $4$ years$)$ is presented below:

Season and Year Actual Demand

Quarter$1$ and $2005482$

Quarter$2$ and $2005213$

Quarter $3$ and $2005116$

Quarter $4$ and $2005335$

Quarter $1$ and $2006499$

Quarter $2$ and $2006225$

Quarter $3$ and $2006122$

Quarter $4$ and $2006344$

Quarter $1$ and $2007503$

Quarter $2$ and $2007237$

Quarter $3$ and $2007127$

Quarter $4$ and $2007349$

Quarter $1$ and $2008518$

Quarter $2$ and $2008244$

Quarter $3$ and $2008133$

Quarter $4$ and $2008353$

A$.$ Based on the information above, prepare a demand forecast for $2009$ for the new facility at Keta. $($Hint: You could use any forecasting technique. However, you should have a sound rationale for your decision based on the type of data given to you. State assumptions, if any$).$ Supposing Kwaku comes up with a forecast to sell $300$ units per quarter for the year $2009,$ do you think his forecast would be any better than your forecast? Explain.

B$.$ The maximum number of units $($of shirts$)$ that the Keta plant can ideally manufacture is $600$ units per quarter. The number of units $($of shirts$)$ that the Keta plant can manufacture after considering scheduling problems, quality issues, etc is $350$ units per quarter. Kwaku tells you that the fixed cost for running the Keta plant per year is estimated to be $$100,000$ and the variable cost per unit of production is estimated to be $$80.$ Variable cost of production includes the material cost & and machining cost only. Direct labor cost also needs to be considered. The average revenue per unit of sale is estimated to be $$250.$

C$.$ Based on your overall production plan, calculate the efficiency and utilization levels $($for each quarter in $2009)$ if you produced as per your overall production plan. $($Hint: Use efficiency and utilization concepts to compute these values$).$ Do you think you can break even in the year $2009$ by producing as per your production plan? Explain how you got your break$-$even point.

D$.$ Kwaku also wants your help in deciding on the type of manufacturing process and the type of facility layout for the Keta facility. $($Hint: There are four types of processes $$ Job Shop, Batch Shop, Assembly Line, and Continuous Processing. There are four types of layouts $$ Product layout, process layout, cellular layout, and fixed position layout$).$ Explain your rationale clearly for choosing a particular process and a layout.

E$.$ Explain and Outline to Mr$.$ Kwaku Kobla the sequence of steps involved in choosing the appropriate location for the construction of the new facility to manufacture ladies' apparel $($shirts$)$ such as Keta, considering the factors that affect location decisions.

F$.$ Suggest to Mr$.$ Kwaku Kobla how would you ensure $($determine$)$ that the products $($ladies$\text{'}$ shirts$)$ from the new facility to manufacture ladies' apparel quality meet the quality requirements of the market.

G$.$ Based on the annual demand, assist the company to come up with a robust Inventory management system employing the economic order quantity model $($EOQ$)$ when the ordering costs of $$50$ per order and the annual carrying cost is $$75$ per bag. $($no$.$ of working days $=300)$