T/F: Forecasting is a crucial part of operations management to anticipate future demand and plan resources accordingly..

body de: A manager wants to choose one of two forecasting alternatives: moving average and exponential smoothing. Each alternative was tested using historical data. The resulting forecast errors for the two are shown in the table. Period (t) Forecasting Errors using Moving Average Forecasting Errors using Exponential Smoothing 1 3 4 2 3 -2 2 -3 3 4 2 -1 5 2 3 (a) Calculate MAD for Moving Average Method and Exponential Smoothing Method (b) Calculate MSE for Moving Average Method and Exponential Smoothing Method 6 4 5 (c) Based on Part (a) and Part (b), which forecasting method (Moving Average or Exponential Smoothing) should be used in this problem? Please explain your reasons.

The table below shows the sales of widgets (in units) over the past 5 years. Using exponential smoothing with a smoothing constant of 0.2, what is the forecast for next year? The initial forecast (for 5 years ago) was 1,200 units. Forecast:  Time Sales 5 years ago 1,140 4 years ago 1,220 3 years ago 1,450 2 years ago 1,090 Last year 1,150   (Do not round intermediate calculations, round your final answer to the nearest whole number.)

Data collected on the yearly registrations for a Six Sigma seminar at the Quality College are shown in the following table: Year -1 2 Registrations (000) 5.0 5.0 Year Forecast 4 4.3 This exercise contains only parts a and b. a) Using a 3-year moving average, the forecasted registrations (in thousands) for years 4 through 12 are (round your responses to one decimal place): 5 4.6 4 3 3.0 5 6 6.6 7 8 4 5 6 9 10 6.0 11.0 9.0 7.0 9.0 13.0 16.0 6 7 8.7 8 9 7 9 8.3 b) Using a 3-year weighted moving average in which the registrations in the most recent year are given a weight of 2, and registrations in the other 2 years are each given a weight of 1, the forecasted registrations (in thousands) for years 4 through 12 are (round your responses to one decimal place): Year Forecast 8 10 9.6 9 11 12.6 10 12 15.3 11 11 17.0 12