Part 1
Forecasting Problem 1
The following equation summarizes the trend portion of quarterly sales of automatic dishwashers over a long cycle. Sales also exhibit seasonal variations.
Ft = 40 - 6.5t + 2t2
where
Ft = Unit sales (in 000 units)
t = 1 at the first quarter of 2010
a) Using the information given, prepare a seasonalized forecast of sales for each quarter of 2014.
b) Prepare a quarter-by-quarter time series plot showing the forecast trend (seasonally unadjusted forecast) from the first quarter of 2010 to the fourth quarter of 2014. Superimpose on this graph the seasonally adjusted forecast for the same time period.
Forecasting Problem 2
The data below represent the relative shares (by quarter) of call volumes over 16 quarters from a call center at a major financial institution.
(a) Using the average quarter percent share column (Column G), generate a pie chart and a bar chart to show the quarterly percent shares of call volumes to the call center.
(b) Using the percentage table above, what are the indices for each of the four quarters?
(c) Assume that the projected number of calls for the year 2014 is 50,000,000, what are the seasonally adjusted forecasts for the number of calls for Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4?
Forecasting Problem 3
The data below represent the call volumes over 16 quarters from a call center at a major financial institution. Develop a forecasting model for the volume of calls (in 000 units).
(a) Create a time series graph showing the: (1) actual data, (2) trend line for the data, and (3) deseasonalized actual data. Label the graph appropriately.
(b) Develop the quarterly (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) indexes for the volume of calls See page117-118 of text for similar problem
(c ) Using the trend line you developed in Part (a), what are your seasonally unadjusted and seasonally adjusted forecasts for the four quarters of 2014?
Forecasting Problem 4
Many supply managers use a monthly reported survey result known as the purchasing managers' index (PMI) as a leading indicator to forecast future sales for their businesses. Suppose that the PMI and your business sales data for the last 10 months are the following:
A. Develop a regression model that can be used by supply managers in forecasting future sales for businesses. Explain what forecasting model approach you used and why you chose it. Show complete work (cut and paste from Excel if used in the analysis).
B. Develop a sales forecast for the 11th and 12th months using the model you developed in part A when PMIs are 52 and 50, respectively.
Forecasting Problem 5
An electrical contractor's records during the last 5 weeks indicate the number of job requests:
a) Graph the actual request data using appropriate labels, and provide insights about the time series (describe what you observe re the behavior of the sales over the period under review).
b) What is the forecast for Week 6 using a 2-period moving average?
c) What is the forecast for Week 6 using the Naïve method?
d) Compute the MAD, MAPE, and MSE for the two-period moving average and Naïve models and compare your results. Explain which of the two forecasting models you prefer and why.
e) Graph the actual number of requests, the 2-period and Naïve forecasts. Use appropriate labels for your graphs
Part 2
Reliability Problem 1
One of the industrial robots designed by a leading producer of servomechanisms has three major components. Components' reliabilities are 80, 85, and 95%. All of the components must function in order for the robot to operate effectively.
a. Compute the reliability of the robot.
b. Designers want to improve the reliability by adding a backup component. Due to space limitations, only one backup can be added. The backup for any component will have the same reliability as the unit for which it is the backup. Which component should get the backup in order to achieve the highest reliability? Show proof of your answer by computing the overall reliabilities of the three options (assume 100% reliable backup switch)
c. If one backup with a reliability of 99% can be added to any of the main components, which component should get it to obtain the highest overall reliability? Show proof of your choice by computing the overall reliabilities of the three options (assume a backup switch with 100% reliability).
Reliability Problem 2
Lucky Lumen light bulbs have an expected life that is exponentially distributed with a mean of 20,000 hours. Determine the probability that one of these light bulbs will last:
a. At least 24,000 hours
b. No longer than 4,000 hous
c. Between 4,000 and 24,000 hours
Reliability Problem 3
An office manager has received a report from a consultant that includes a section on equipment replacement. The report indicates that scanners have a service life that is normally distributed with a mean of 41 months and a standard deviation of 4 months.
On the basis of this information, determine the percentage of scanners that can be expected to fail in the following time periods.
a. Before 38 months of service.
b. Between 40 and 45 months of service.
c. Within +/- 2 months of the average service life.
d. If the manufacturer of the scanner offers a service contracts of 3 years on these scanners, what percentage of scanners can be expected to fail from wear-out during the service period?
e. If the cost of replacement each scanner is $250, and if 1,000 units of this scanner are sold, what is the expected warranty replacement cost to the manufacturer.
Reliability Problem 4
How high must reliability be? Prime business customers expect public carrier-class communications data links to be available 99.999 percent of the time. The so-called five nines rule implies only 5 minutes of downtime per year. Such high reliability is needed not only in telecommunications but also for mission-critical systems such as airline reservation systems or banking fund transfers.
Suppose a certain network web server is up only 90 percent of the time (i.e. its probability of being down is 0.10). How many independent servers are needed to ensure that the system is up at least 99.999 percent of the time?
Show your work and explain your answer.
Attachment:- Assignment Excelsheet.rar