Acme Water Pumps

Chapter 3 Case Study Teaching Notes

a.

Below is a sample master schedule using ATP and a demand time fence of 3 weeks.

Week
Forecast
Customer Orders
Inventory 25
MPS
ATP

1
90
105
220
300
30

2
120
97
123

3
110
93
30

4
80
72
250
300
58

5
85
98
152

6
95
72
57

7
100
53
247
300
209

8
110
21
137

9
90
17
47

10
90
6
257
300
287

11
100
2
157

12
110
5
57

Note: The inventory position used only the customer orders for the first three weeks (inside the demand time fence)
and then used the larger of forecast or customer order.
b.

Clearly there is no problem promising the order, as the company can promise them from the 58 ATP in
week 4. In some cases, students may assume since there is no ATP in week 5 that no order can be
promised, in which case you would assume they would discuss overtime, split orders, etc. Some good
questions to ask students as a follow-up:

What happens if the order for week 5 was 70 units? Answer: Thats still okay promise them 58
from week 4 and the rest from week 1.

What happens if the order for week 5 was 100 units? Answer: Promise them 88 now (30 plus 58)
and the rest in week 7 with the next MPS. If that is not okay, then look for overtime, expediting,
or trading with other customers.