Which forecasting technique is better: qualitative or quantitative? Why?

Qualitative forecasting techniques are usually used for short-term forecasts (i.e. a week or a month), where adequate amount of historical data and time series data are not available. On the other hand, quantitative forecasting techniques are more likely to be successful when there is adequate historical data available and the forecast period is longer (i.e. a quarter to a year).

What are the examples of poor forecasting that one may encounter?

Poor forecasting can be the reason of terrible consequences. Relatively accurate forecasting, more or less, drives toward financial success. Here are some examples of poor forecasting that one may encounter.

What are some of the problems typically associated with production forecasting?

Production forecasting is the process of estimating the future demand of products and services. Some common problems typically associated with production forecasting is-

Relationship of the economic concept of supply and demand to capacity planning theory

There is a direct relationship between the economic concept of demand and capacityplanning. A common problem that all production and service firms face is matching capacity with uncertain future customer demand. This is because- “Capacity serves demand, but demand is often stochastic”. 

Why is capacity planning critical to production and service firms?

Proper capacity planning assists firms to determine the optimal level of input (raw materials and other resources) for producing the projected amount of output (final goods and services) with creating little to no barriers (i.e. bottleneck and downtime issues) for its production and operational success.

Production & Operation Management (POM) : Business Curriculum Perspective

In today’s global business scenario, delivering superior value in an efficient and cost-effective manner to achieve competitiveness plays a vital role for the survival of both manufacturing and service providing companies. Considering this particular fact, production and operations management (POM) has gained more concentration in the curriculum of business and management schools.

Why has operation management increased in importance over the past few years?

Operation Management is one of the core functional areas of business processes which basically involves planning, organizing, scheduling, controlling, and developing an organization’s all operational activities that are related to the production and delivery of goods and services.