Inventory Management Inventory management is primarily about specifying the size and placement of stocked goods.

Inventory management is required at different locations within a facility or within multiple locations of a supply network to protect the regular and planned course of production against the random disturbance of running out of materials or goods. The scope of inventory management also concerns the fine lines between replenishment lead time, carrying costs of inventory, asset management, inventory forecasting, inventory valuation, inventory visibility, future inventory price forecasting, physical inventory, available physical space for inventory, quality management, replenishment, returns and defective goods and demand forecasting. Or can be defined as the stock of any item used in an organization. Inventory means unsold goods. Inventory An Inventory is a stock or store of goods. Firms typically stokes 100s or even 1000 of items in inventory ranging from small things such as pencils, paper clips, screws, nuts & bolts to large items such as machines trucks construction equipment and airplanes naturally many of the items a firms carry's in inventory relate to the kind of business it engages in . Thus manufacturing firms carry supplies of raw materials purchased parts partially finished items & finished goods, as well as spare parts for machine tools and other supplies. Department store carry clothing furniture carpeting stationary appliances gifts cards and toys some also stocks sporting goods paints and tools. Functions of Inventory Inventories serve a number of functions. Among the most important are the following:
1. To meet anticipated customer demand. A customer can be a person who walks in

off the street to buy a new stereo system, a mechanic who requests a tool at a tool crib, or a manufacturing operation. These inventories are referred to as

anticipation stocks because they are held to satisfy expected (i.e., average)
demand.

2. To smooth production requirements. Firms that experience seasonal patterns in

demand often build up inventories during preseason periods to meet overly high requirements during seasonal periods. These inventories are aptly named

seasonal inventories. Companies that process fresh fruits and vegetables deal
with seasonal inventories. So do stores that sell greeting cards, skis, snowmobiles, or Christmas trees.
3. To decouple operations. Historically, manufacturing firms have used inventories

as buffers between successive operations to maintain continuity of production that would otherwise be disrupted by events such as breakdowns of equipment and accidents that cause a portion of the operation to shut down temporarily. The buffers permit other operations to continue temporarily while the problem is resolved. Similarly, firms have used buffers of raw materials to insulate production from disruptions in deliveries from suppliers, and fin finished goods inventory to buffer sales operations from manufacturing disruptions. More recently, companies have taken a closer look at buffer inventories, recognizing the cost and space they require, and realizing that finding and eliminating sources of disruptions can greatly decrease the need for decoupling operations. Inventory buffers are also important in supply chains. Careful analysis can reveal both points where buffers would be most useful and points where they would merely increase costs without adding value.
4. To protect against stock outs. Delayed deliveries and unexpected increases in

demand increase the risk of shortages. Delays can occur because of weather conditions, supplier stockouts, deliveries of wrong materials, quality problems, and so on. The risk of shortages can be reduced by holding safety stocks, which are stocks in excess of average demand to compensate for variabilities in demand and lead time.

5. To take advantage of order cycles. To minimize purchasing and inventory costs, a

firm often buys in quantities that exceed immediate requirements. This necessitates storing some or all of the purchased amount for later use. Similarly, it is usually economical to produce in large rather than small quantities. Again, the excess output must be stored for later use.

Thus, inventory storage enables a firm to buy and produce in economic lot sizes without having to try to match purchases or production with demand requirements in the short run. This results in periodic orders, or order cycles. The resulting stock is known as

cycle stock. Order cycles are not always based on economic lot sizes. In some
instances, it is practical or economical to group orders and/or to order at fixed intervals.
6. To hedge against price increases. Occasionally a firm will suspect that a

substantial price increase is about to occur and purchase larger-than-normal amounts to beat the increase. The ability to store extra goods also allows a firm to take advantage of price discounts for larger orders.
7. To permit operations. The fact that production operations take a certain amount

of time (i.e., they are not instantaneous) means that there will generally be some work-in-process inventory. In addition, intermediate stocking of goodsincluding raw materials, semifinished items, and finished goods at production sites, as well as goods stored in warehousesleads to pipeline inventories throughout a production-distribution system. Littles Law can be useful in quantifying pipeline inventory. It states that the average amount of inventory in a system is equal to the product of the average rate at which inventory units leave the system (i.e., the average demand rate) and the average time a unit is in the system. Thus, if

a unit is in the system for an average of 10 days, and the demand rate is 5 units per day, the average inventory is 50 units: 5 units/day _ 10 days _ 50 units.

8. To take advantage of quantity discounts. Suppliers may give discounts on large

orders.

Objectives of Inventory Control Inadequate control of inventories can result in both under- and overstocking of items. Understocking results in missed deliveries, lost sales, dissatisfied customers, and production bottlenecks; overstocking unnecessarily ties up funds that might be more productive elsewhere. Although overstocking may appear to be the lesser of the two evils, the price tag for excessive overstocking can be staggering when inventory holding costs are highas illustrated by the little story about the bin of gears at the beginning of the chapterand matters can easily get out of hand. It is not unheard of for managers to discover that their firm has a 10-year supply of some item. (No doubt the firm got a good buy on it!) Inventory management has two main concerns. One is the level of customer service, that is, to have the right goods, in sufficient quantities, in the right place, at the right time. The other is the costs of ordering and carrying inventories. The overall objective of inventory management is to achieve satisfactory levels of customer service while keeping inventory costs within reasonable bounds. Toward this end, the decision maker tries to achieve a balance in stocking. He or she must make two fundamental decisions: the timing and size of orders (i.e., when to order and how much to order). The greater part of this chapter is devoted to models that can be applied to assist in making those decisions.

Managers have a number of measures of performance they can use to judge the effectiveness of inventory management. The most obvious, of course, is customer satisfaction, which they might measure by the number and quantity of backorders and/or customer complaints. A widely used measure is inventory turnover, which is the ratio of annual cost of goods sold to average inventory investment. The turnover ratio indicates how many times a year the inventory is sold. Generally, the higher the ratio, the better, because that implies more efficient use of inventories. However, the desirable number of turns depends on the industry and what the profit margins are. The higher the profit margins, the lower the acceptable number of inventory turns, and vice versa. Also, a product that takes a long time to manufacture, or a long time to sell, will have a low turnover rate. This is often the case with high-end retailers (high profit margins). Conversely, supermarkets (low profit margins) have a fairly high turnover rate. Note, though, that there should be a balance between inventory investment and maintaining good customer service. Managers often use inventory turnover to evaluate inventory management performance; monitoring this metric over time can yield insights into changes in performance. Another useful measure is days of inventory on hand, a number that indicates the expected number of days of sales that can be supplied from existing inventory. Here, a balance is desirable; a high number of days might imply excess inventory, while a low number might imply a risk of running out of stock.

REQUIREMENTS FOR EFFECTIVE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT Management has two basic functions concerning inventory. One is to establish a system of keeping track of items in inventory, and the other is to make decisions about how much and when to order. To be effective, management must have the following: 1. A system to keep track of the inventory on hand and on order.

2. A reliable forecast of demand that includes an indication of possible forecast error. 3. Knowledge of lead times and lead time variability. 4. Reasonable estimates of inventory holding costs, ordering costs, and shortage costs. 5. A classification system for inventory items. Lets take a closer look at each of these requirements.

Inventory Costs Holding (carrying) cost: Cost to carry an item in inventory for a length of time, usually a year. Ordering costs: Costs of ordering and receiving inventory. Shortage costs: Costs resulting when demand exceeds the supply of inventory; often unrealized profit per unit. Classification System An important aspect of inventory management is that items held in inventory are not of equal importance in terms of dollars invested, profit potential, sales or usage volume, or stockout penalties. For instance, a producer of electrical equipment might have electric generators, coils of wire, and miscellaneous nuts and bolts among the items carried in inventory. It would be unrealistic to devote equal attention to each of these items. Instead, a more reasonable approach would be to allocate control efforts according to the relative importance of various items in inventory. The A-B-C approach classifies inventory items according to some measure of importance, usually annual dollar value (i.e., dollar value per unit multiplied by annual usage rate), and then allocates control efforts accordingly. Typically, three classes of items are used: A (very important), B (moderately important), and C (least important). However, the actual number of categories may vary from organization to organization,

depending on the extent to which a firm wants to differentiate control efforts. With three classes of items, A items generally account for about 10 to 20 percent of the number of items in inventory but about 60 to 70 percent of the annual dollar value. At the other end of the scale, C items might account for about 50 to 60 percent of the number of items but only about 10 to 15 percent of the dollar value of an inventory. These percentages vary from firm to firm, but in most instances a relatively small number of items will account for a large share of the value or cost associated with an inventory, and these items should receive a relatively greater share of control efforts. For instance, A items should receive close attention through frequent reviews of amounts on hand and control over withdrawals, where possible, to make sure that customer service levels are attained. The C items should receive only loose control (two-bin system, bulk orders), and the B items should have controls that lie between the two extremes. Note that C items are not necessarily unimportant; incurring a stockout of C items such as the nuts and bolts used to assemble manufactured goods can result in a costly shutdown of an assembly line. However, due to the low annual dollar value of C items, there may not be much additional cost incurred by ordering larger quantities of some items, or ordering them a bit earlier.

ECONOMIC ORDER QUANTITY MODELS EOQ models identify the optimal order quantity by minimizing the sum of certain annual costs that vary with order size. Three order size models are described here: 1. The basic economic order quantity model. 2. The economic production quantity model. 3. The quantity discount model. Basic Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) Model The basic EOQ model is the simplest of the three models. It is used to identify a fixed order size that will minimize the sum of the annual costs of holding inventory and ordering inventory.

The unit purchase price of items in inventory is not generally included in the total cost because the unit cost is unaffected by the order size unless quantity discounts are a factor. Assumptions of the basic EOQ model 1. Only one product is involved. 2. Annual demand requirements are known. 3. Demand is spread evenly throughout the year so that the demand rate is reasonably constant. 4. Lead time does not vary. 5. Each order is received in a single delivery. 6. There are no quantity discounts. Economic Production Quantity (EPQ) The batch mode of production is widely used in production. Even in assembly operations, portions of the work are done in batches. The reason for this is that in certain instances, the capacity to produce a part exceeds the parts usage or demand rate. As long as production continues, inventory will continue to grow. In such instances, it makes sense to periodically produce such items in batches, or lots, instead of producing continually. The assumptions of the EPQ model are similar to those of the EOQ model, except that instead of orders received in a single delivery, units are received incrementally during production. The assumptions are 1. Only one item is involved. 2. Annual demand is known. 3. The usage rate is constant. 4. Usage occurs continually, but production occurs periodically.

Quantity Discounts Quantity discounts are price reductions for large orders offered to customers to induce them to buy in large quantities. Reorder point (ROP): When the quantity on hand of an item drops to this amount, the item is reordered. FIXED-ORDER-INTERVAL MODEL The fixed-order-interval (FOI) model is used when orders must be placed at fixed time intervals (weekly, twice a month, etc.): The timing of orders is set. The question, then, at ach order point, is how much to order. Fixed-interval ordering systems are widely used by retail businesses. If demand is variable, the order size will tend to vary from cycle to cycle. This is quite different from an EOQ/ROP approach in which the order size generally remains fixed from cycle to cycle, while the length of the cycle varies (shorter if demand is above average, and longer if demand is below average). Reasons for Using the Fixed-Order-Interval Model In some cases, a suppliers policy might encourage orders at fixed intervals. Even when that is not the case, grouping orders for items from the same supplier can produce savings in shipping costs. Furthermore, some situations do not readily lend themselves to continuous monitoring of inventory levels. Many retail operations (e.g., drugstores, small grocery stores) fall into this category. The alternative for them is to use fixedinterval ordering, which requires only periodic checks of inventory levels. Benefits and Disadvantages The fixed-interval system results in tight control. In addition, when multiple items come from the same supplier, grouping orders can yield savings in ordering, packing, and shipping costs. Moreover, it may be the only practical approach if inventory withdrawals cannot be closely monitored.

On the negative side, the fixed-interval system necessitates a larger amount of safety stock for a given risk of stockout because of the need to protect against shortages during an entire order interval plus lead time (instead of lead time only), and this increases the carrying cost. Also, there are the costs of the periodic reviews. THE SINGLE-PERIOD MODEL Single-period model: Model for ordering of perishables and other items with limited useful lives. Shortage cost: Generally, the unrealized profit per unit. Excess cost: Difference between purchase cost and salvage value of items left over at the end of a period.

Scheduling is the process of deciding how to commit resources between a varieties of possible tasks. Time can be specified (scheduling a flight to leave at 8:00) or floating as part of a sequence of events. Master Scheduling The master scheduling is the heart of production, planning, and control. It determines the quantities needed to meet demand from all sources & that governs key decisions activities throughout the organization. The master schedule interface with marketing capacity planning, production planning & distribution planning: it enables marketing to make valid delivery commitment to ware houses & final customer; it enables production to evaluate capacity requirements; it provides the necessary information for production & marketing to negotiate when customer request cannot be meet by normal capacity & it provides senior management meet opportunity to determine whether the business plan & its strategic objective will be achieved also drives the material requirements planning(MRP) system. The master scheduler: Most manufacturing organizations have/ (should have) a master scheduler the duties of master scheduler generally include 1. Evaluating the impact of new orders 2. Providing delivery date for orders 3. Dealing with problems: a) Evaluating the impact of production delays or late deliveries of purchased goods b) Rising the master schedule when necessary because of insufficient supply or capacity c) Bringing instances of insufficient capacity to the attention of production & marketing personal so that that can participate in resolving conflicts.

THE MASTER SCHEDULING PROCESS Figure shows the master production scheduling process. Operations must first create a prospective MPS to test whether it meets the schedule with the resources (e.g., machine capacities, labor, overtime, and subcontractors) provided for in the aggregate production plan. Operations revises the MPS until it obtains a schedule that satisfies all resource limitations or determines that no feasible schedule can be developed. In the latter event, the production plan must be revised to adjust production requirements or increase authorized resources. Once a feasible prospective MPS has been accepted by plant management, operations uses the authorized MPS as input to material requirements planning. Operations can then determine specific schedules for component production and assembly. Actual performance data such as inventory levels and shortages are inputs to the next prospective MPS, and the master production scheduling process is repeated.

INTERFACES

The master schedule (MS) is a key link in the manufacturing planning and control chain. The MS interfaces with marketing, distribution planning, production planning, and capacity planning. It also drives the material requirements planning (MRP) system Master scheduling calculates the quantity required to meet demand requirements from all sources. All sources in which the distribution requirements are the gross requirements for the MS. Material requirements planning is used to calculate the quantity required. For example, the 15 units in inventory at the end of Week 3 are subtracted from the gross requirements, 85 units, of Week 4 to determine the net requirements of 70 units for Week 4. The MS enables marketing to make legitimate delivery commitments to field warehouses and final customers. It enables production to evaluate capacity requirements in a more detailed manner. It also provides the necessary information for production and marketing to agree on a course of action when customer requests cannot be met by normal capacity. Finally, it provides to management the opportunity to ascertain whether the business plan and its strategic objectives will be achieved. Before describing the activities involved in creating and managing the MS, we examine the different organizational environments in which master scheduling takes place. These environments are determined in large measure by an organization's strategic response to the interests of customers and to the actions of competitors. An understanding of these environments, of the bill of material, and of the planning horizon is essential to the first stage of master planning activities---designing the master schedule. THE ENVIRONMENT The competitive strategy of an organization may be any of the following: 1. Make finished items to stock (sell from finished goods inventory) 2. Assemble final products to order and make components, 20 subassemblies, and options to stock

3. Custom design and make-to-order the competitive nature of the market and the strategy of the organization determine which of the MS alternates it should use. It is not unusual for an organization to have different strategies for different product lines and, thus, use different MS approaches. FUNCTIONAL INTERFACES Operations needs information from other functional areas to develop an MPS that achieves production plan objectives and organizational goals. Although master production schedules are continually subject to revision, changes should be made with a full understanding of their consequences. Often changes to the MPS require additional resources, as in the case of an increase in the order quantity of a product. Many companies face this situation frequently, and the problem is amplified when an important customer is involved. Unless more resources are authorized for the product, less resources will be available for other products, putting their schedules in jeopardy. Some companies require the vice presidents of marketing and manufacturing jointly to authorize significant MPS changes to ensure mutual resolution of such issues. Other functional areas can use the MPS for routine planning. Finance uses the MPS to estimate budgets and cash flows. Marketing can use it to project the impact of product mix changes on the firms ability to satisfy customer demand and manage delivery schedules. Manufacturing can use it to estimate the effects of MPS changes on loads at critical workstations. Personal computers, with their excellent graphic capabilities, give reports in readable and useful formats. Computers allow managers to ask whatif questions about the effects of changes to the MPS. DEVELOPING A MASTER PRODUCTION SCHEDULE The process of developing a master production schedule includes (1) Calculating the projected on-hand inventory and (2) Determining the timing and size of the production quantities of specific products. We use the manufacturer of the ladder-back chair to illustrate the process. For

simplicity, we assume that the firm does not utilize safety stocks for end items, even though many firms do. In addition, we use weeks as our planning periods, even though hours, days, or months could be used.

Step 1. Calculate Projected On-Hand Inventories. The first step is to calculate the
projected on-hand inventory, which is an estimate of the amount of inventory available each week after demand has been satisfied: (Projected on-hand inventory at the end)= (On-hand inventory at the end of last week) + (MPS quantity due at the start of this week) - (Projected requirements this week) This calculation is similar to that for the projected on-hand inventory in an MRP record and serves essentially the same purpose. In some weeks, there may be no MPS quantity for a product because sufficient inventory already exists. For the projected requirements for this week, the scheduler uses whichever is largerthe forecast or the customer orders bookedrecognizing that the forecast is subject to error. If actual booked orders exceed the forecast, the projection will be more accurate if the scheduler uses the booked orders because booked orders are a known quantity. Conversely, if the forecast exceeds booked orders for a week, the forecast will provide a better estimate of requirements for that week because some orders are yet to come in.

Example of master scheduling process: The manufacturer of the ladder-back chair produces the chair to stock and needs to develop an MPS for it. Marketing has forecasted a demand of 30 chairs for the first week of April, but actual customer orders booked are for 38 chairs. The current onhand inventory is 55 chairs. No MPS quantity is due in week 1. Figure shows an MPS record with these quantities listed. As actual orders for week 1 are greater than the forecast, the scheduler uses that figure for actual orders in calculating the projected inventory balance at the end of week 1: Inventory= (55 chairs currently in stock) + (MPS quantity (0 for week 1)) (38 chairs already promised for delivery in week 1) = 17 chairs In week 2, the forecasted quantity exceeds actual orders booked, so the projected On-

hand inventory for the end of week 2 is 17 + 0 - 30 = 13. The shortage signals the need for more chairs in week 2.

Step 2. Determine the Timing and Size of MPS Quantities. The goal of determining the
timing and size of MPS quantities is to maintain a nonnegative projected on-hand inventory balance. As shortages in inventory are detected, MPS quantities should be scheduled to cover them, much as planned receipts are scheduled in an MRP record. The first MPS quantity should be scheduled for the week when the projected on-hand inventory reflects a shortage, such as week 2 in Figure The scheduler adds the MPS quantity to the projected on-hand inventory and searches for the next period when a shortage occurs. This shortage signals a need for a second MPS quantity, and so on. Figure 3 shows a master production schedule for the ladder-back chair for the next eight weeks. The order policy requires production lot sizes of 150 units, which is the same as FOQ _ 150. A shortage of 13 chairs in week 2 will occur unless the scheduler provides for an MPS quantity for that period.

Once the MPS quantity is scheduled, the updated projected inventory balance for week 2 is the scheduler proceeds column by column through the MPS record until reaching the end, filling in the MPS quantities as needed to avoid shortages. The 137 units will

satisfy forecasted demands until week 7, when the inventory shortage in the absence of an MPS quantity is 7 + 0 - 35 = -28. This shortage signals the need for another MPS quantity of 150 units. The updated inventory balance is 7 + 150 - 35 = 122 chairs for week 7. The last row in Figure indicates the periods in which production of the MPS quantities must begin so that they will be available when indicated in the MPS quantity row. This row is analogous to the planned order receipt row in an MRP record. In the upper-right portion of the MPS record, a lead time of one week is indicated for the ladder-back chair; that is, one week is needed to assemble 150 ladder-back chairs, assuming that items B, C, D, and E are available. For each MPS quantity, the scheduler works backward through the lead time to determine when the assembly department must start producing chairs. Consequently, a lot of 150 units must be started in week 1 and another in week 6. These quantities correspond to the gross requirements in the MRP record for item C, the seat subassembly. AVAILABLE-TO-PROMISE QUANTITIES In addition to providing manufacturing with the timing and size of production quantities, the MPS provides marketing with information that is useful in negotiating delivery dates with customers. The quantity of end items that marketing can promise to deliver on specified dates is called available-to-promise (ATP) inventory. It is the difference between the customer orders already booked and the quantity that operations is planning to produce. As new customer orders are accepted, the ATP inventory is reduced to reflect commitment of the firm to ship those quantities, but the actual inventory stays unchanged until the order is removed from inventory and shipped to the customer. An available-to-promise inventory is associated with each MPS quantity

because the MPS quantity specifies the timing and size of new stock that can be earmarked to meet future bookings. Figure shows an MPS record with an additional row for the available-topromise quantities. The ATP in week 2 is the MPS quantity minus booked customer orders until the next MPS quantity, or 150 - (27+ 24 + 8 + 0 + 0) = 91 units. The ATP indicates to marketing that, of the 150 units scheduled for completion in week 2, 91 units are uncommitted, and total new orders up to that quantity can be promised for delivery as early as week 2. In week 7, the ATP is 150 units because there are no booked orders in week 7 and beyond. The procedure for calculating available-to-promise information is slightly different for the first (current) week of the schedule than for other weeks because it accounts for the inventory currently in stock. The ATP inventory for the first week equals current on-

hand inventory plus the MPS quantity for the first week, minus the cumulative total of
booked orders up to (but not including) the week in which the next MPS quantity arrives. So, in Figure, the ATP for the first week is 55 + 0 - 38 = 17. This information indicates to the sales department that it can promise as many as 17 units this week, 91 more units sometime in weeks 2 through 6, and 150 more units in week 7 or 8. If customer order requests exceed ATP quantities in those time periods, the MPS must be

changed before the customer orders can be booked or the customers must be given a

later delivery datewhen the next MPS quantity arrives. See the solved problem at the end of this supplement for an example of decision making using the ATP quantities. FREEZING THE MPS The master production schedule is the basis of all, subassembly, component, and purchased materials schedules. For this reason, changes to the MPS can be costly, particularly if they are made to MPS quantities soon to be completed. Increases in an MPS quantity may cause delays in shipments to customers or excessive expediting costs because of shortages in materials. Decreases in MPS quantities can result in unused materials or components (at least until another need for them arises) and tying up valuable capacities for something not needed. Similar costs occur when forecasted need dates for MPS quantities are changed. For these reasons, many firms, particularly those with a make-to-stock strategy and a focus on low-cost operations, freeze, or disallow changes to, a portion of the MPS. Freezing can be accomplished by specifying a demand time fence, which is the number of periods (beginning with the current period) during which few, if any, changes can be made to the MPS (i.e., the MPS is firm). Companies select the demand time fence after considering the costs of making changes to the MPS: The more costly the changes, the more periods are included in the demand time fence. The costs of making changes to the MPS typically go down as the changes occur farther in the future. For example, the Ethan Allen Furniture Company uses a demand time fence of eight weeks. If the current week is week 1, the MPS is frozen for weeks 1 through 8 because the costs of rescheduling the assembly line, the shop, and suppliers shipments are prohibitive in that time frame. Neither the master scheduler nor the computer can reschedule MPS quantities for this period without managements approval. Making a change to the schedule for week 10, for example, is much less costly because of the lead time that everyone has to react to the change. Other time fences that allow varying amounts of change can be specified. For example, the planning time fence typically covers a longer period than the demand time fence.

The master schedulerbut not the computercan make changes to MPS quantities during this period of time. The cost of making changes to the MPS within the planning time fence is less than making changes to the MPS within the demand time fence. Beyond the planning time fence the computer may schedule the MPS quantities, based on the approved ordering policy that is programmed into the computer. Figure shows a demand time fence of two weeks and a planning time fence of six weeks for the ladderback chair MPS. The MPS quantity in week 2 cannot be changed without managements approval. The MPS quantity in week 7 can be changed by the master scheduler without managements approval. The MPS quantities beyond week 8 can be changed by the computer, based on policies approved by management that are programmed into the computer. The number of time fences can vary. Black & Decker uses three time fences: 8, 13, and 26 weeks. The 8-week fence is essentially a demand time fence. From 8 to 13 weeks, the MPS is quite rigid, but minor changes to model series may be made if components are available. From 13 to 26 weeks, substitution of one end item for another is permitted as long as the production plan is not violated and components are available. Beyond 26 weeks, marketing can make changes as long as they are compatible with the production plan.