June 2013
Beginner
134 pages
2h 37m
English
Forecasting demand for services is important in most services because fluctuations in demand cannot usually be taken care of by building inventory. When the service is “embedded” in a physical product, forecasting and meeting demand fluctuations are analogous to the manufacturing situation. In either case, the demand forecast is the basis for all planning.
In manufacturing, demand is forecasted in terms of units of physical product. In services, it is not always clear what to forecast and what can be forecasted. That is, the outputs of some service firms are of almost infinite variety. Basically, however, service demand is in terms of (1) number of customers and (2) number of ...
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