Product Activity Control Assignment 1

1. Apply the MPC framework to a college setting. In particular, identify the front end, engine, and back end.

In a college setting, the front end would be the dean and president of the school since they are in charge controlling how the school will be run and hiring the needed employees for the school. The engine would be the professors because they control on what the material will be studied and on how to go about teaching to the students. The back end would be the students because they receive the information from the deans and professors and process that information to use it in there everyday life.

2. Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of cumulative charts (see Figure 4.4) and tabular plans, such as the one shown in Figure 4.5.

The advantage of cumulative chart is that implications of alternative plans which are called chase strategy where production output is changed to chase sales. The advantage to tabular plans is that this approach is easily captured and communicated using an electronic spreadsheet. The disadvantage of cumulative plans which is called level strategy and that means that the production is at a constant uniform rate of output with inventory buildups and depletions over the planning horizon. The disadvantage of tabular plans is it requires a lot of information. The tabular plan requires several important information inputs each month: the sales forecast, the operations and inventory plans, and the actual operating results for the past three months.