Practical Management Science
Practical Management Science
6th Edition
ISBN: 9781337406659
Author: WINSTON, Wayne L.
Publisher: Cengage,
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Solaris Pte Ltd is a manufacturer of solar panels used by many organisations in solar farms to  
produce electricity in Singapore. The last few years had been tough. The COVID19 pandemic  
had shutdown many economic activities leading to poor sales in solar panels. In more recent  
times, with many countries in the world embracing endemic COVID and opening up their  
borders, economic activities are restarting. The CEO of Solaris is optimistic even though there  
are other challenges like sharp spikes in oil and gas prices, war in Ukraine and frequent supply  
chain disruptions
 

Table 4. Solar Panel Sales
Period  Units Sold 
Actual
2019 Q1 25000
2019 Q2 22500
2019 Q3  17500
2019 Q4 12500
2020 Q1  10500
2020 Q2 10750
2020 Q3 12500
2020 Q4  17500
2021 Q1  21250
2021 Q2 23750
2021 Q3 25000
2021 Q4  27500
2022 Q1  60825
2022 Q2  57500
2022 Q3  ?
2022 Q4  ?
2023 Q1  ?
2023 Q2 ?

Table 4 shows the past quarterly sales data of solar panels sold by Solaris in terms of units per  
quarter for the last three years. Sales data are only available right up to the second quarter of  
2022. The CEO would like its sales manager to forecast sales for the next 4 quarters ahead  
from 2022 Q3 to 2023 Q2. 
Suppose you are the Sales Manager at Solaris. Using the Weighted Moving Average (WMA)  
method, develop a quarterly sales forecast for the solar panels.
 

(i) What is your sales forecast for 2022Q3 through 2023Q2? You may assume that the weights  
are 2:3:1 where weight 2 is for the oldest data point and weight 1 is for the most recent  
data. What is the Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) of your forecast? (Note: you need to  
show how the first two (2) values of your WMA, Absolute Error and final MAD are  
computed.) 

(ii) Comment on your new forecasts in terms of its reliability for business planning. 
(Hint: consider plotting a graph of your new forecast for analysis.)

Do provide all equations, tables, graphs and working
 

Do show all equations, workings, tables and graph.

Expert Solution
Check Mark
Step 1

The forecast values from 2022 Q3 to 2023Q2 can be calculated by using the concept of linear regression.  Under this concept, there are certain variables that are dependent and independent in nature. One variable may be dependent on one or multiple independent variables. This concept helps in better prediction for business decisions and strategies. The regression is represented as y = mx + b. Here "x" may represent the period number and "y" be the number of units to be sold. The letter "m" represents the slope and "b" is the intercept. 

 

Operations Management homework question answer, step 1, image 1

 

We have obtained the following information:

x = 105y = 344575xy = 3146475x2 = 1015N = 14

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