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1. Forecast - ANSWER - a projection of expected demand
- a statement about the future value of a variable of interest
- needed quantities and locations stated in operations units (not $$)
2. Who creates the forecast?
- ANSWER marketing
3. Why is forecasting used by operations? - ANSWER - plan and manage
capacity (manpower, equipment and space requirements)
- plan production schedules
- establish budgets for production of goods (direct and indirect)
Forecasts for groups of items at a higher level are (less/more) accurate than for
individual items
More Forecast accuracy (increases/decreases) as the horizon increases decreases;
short-term forecasts tend to be more accurate
4. Two Important Aspects of Forecasts - ANSWER 1) expected level of
demand
2) accuracy
, 5. Features Common to All Forecasts (4) - ANSWER 1) Techniques assume
some underlying causal system that existed in the past will persist into the
future. You will rely on history
2) Forecasts are not perfect
3) Forecasts for groups of items are more accurate than those for individual
items
4) Forecast accuracy decreases as the forecasting horizon increases
6. Time-series forecasts
- ANSWER forecasts that project patterns identified in recent time-series
observations
7. Trend
- ANSWER A long-term upward or downward movement in data
Population shifts
Changing income
8. Seasonality - ANSWER Short-term, fairly regular variations related to the
calendar or time of day
9. Restaurants, service call centers, and theaters all experience this kind of
demand - ANSWER Cycle
10. Wavelike variations lasting more than one year - ANSWER These are often
related to a variety of economic, political, or even agricultural conditions
11. Longer period of time than seasonality - ANSWER Irregular variation
Due to unusual circumstances that do not reflect typical behavior
Labor strike
Weather event
,12. Random variation - ANSWER Residual variation that remains after all other
behaviors have been accounted for.
13. Naive forecast - ANSWER - Uses a single previous value of a time series as
the basis for a forecast
- The forecast for a time period is equal to the previous time period's value
14. Naive forecast is used during .... (3) - ANSWER A stable time series
Seasonal variations
Trend
15. Averaging techniques - ANSWER - Smooth variations in the data
- Can handle step changes or gradual changes in the level of a series
16. Moving Average - ANSWER Technique that averages a number of the most
recent actual values in generating a forecast
As new data become available, the forecast is updated by adding the newest value
and dropping the oldest and then re-computing the average
17. The number of data points included in the average determines the model's
sensitivity - ANSWER Fewer data points used—more responsive
More data points used—less responsive
18. Weighted Moving average - ANSWER the most recent values in a time
series are given more weight in computing a forecast
, 19. Weight for period x actual value for period - ANSWER Forecast error
Actual – Forecast
20. MAD- ANSWER
Mean Absolute Deviation
weights all errors evenly
1) find forecast errors (actual - forecast)
2) take absolute value of forecast errors
3) average them
Control Charts - ANSWER - a time-ordered plot of representative sample
statistics obtained from an ongoing process (e.g. sample means), used to
distinguish between random and nonrandom variability
- useful for identifying the presence of non-random error in forecasts
Control Limits- ANSWER The dividing lines between random and nonrandom
deviations from the mean of the distribution
Upper and lower control limits define the range of acceptable variation
Key product and service design questions (4) - ANSWER 1) is there demand for
it?
2) can we do it?
3) what level of quality is appropriate
4) does it make sense from an economic standpoint?
Manufacturability - ANSWER the capability of an organization to produce an
item at an acceptable profit
Serviceability - ANSWER the capability of an organization to provide a service
at an acceptable cost or profit