1. The overview
1.1. The definition
1.1.1. Sales and operations planning is the process that companies use to keep demand and supply in balance and to coordinate distribution, marketing and financial plans
1.2. Role:
1.2.1. Long- range planning
1.2.1.1. One year or more
1.2.2. Intermediate- range planning
1.2.2.1. 3 to 18 month
1.2.3. Short- range planning
1.2.3.1. A day to six month
2. Input
2.1. Sales
2.2. The Aggregate Operations plan
2.2.1. Producte rate
2.2.1.1. Number of units completed per unit of time.
2.2.2. Workforce level
2.2.2.1. Number of workers needed in a period
2.2.3. Inventory on hand
2.2.3.1. Inventory carried from the previous period
3. Process
3.1. Environmental scanning
3.1.1. Market demand
3.1.2. Economic conditions
3.1.3. Raw material availability
3.1.4. Competitors' behavior
3.1.5. External capacity
3.2. Production Planning strategies
3.2.1. Chase strategy
3.2.1.1. Match the production rate to the order rate by hiring and laying off employees as the order rate varies.
3.2.2. Stable workforce- variable work hours
3.2.2.1. Vary ouput by varying the number of hours worked through flexible work schedules or overtime
3.2.3. Level strategy
3.2.3.1. Maintain a stable workforce working at constant output rate.
3.2.4. Pure strategy
3.2.4.1. A simple strategy that use just one option, such as hiring of firing workers for meeting demand
3.2.5. Mixed strategy
3.2.5.1. A more complex strategy that combines options for meeting demand
3.3. Subcontracting
3.4. Relevant costs
3.4.1. Basic production costs
3.5. Agggregate planning techniques
3.5.1. Aggregate planning applied to services