Level production, chasing demand, or a mix of both? MT296's Unit 9 sales and operations plan costs all three for a seasonal frozen food plant and picks the hybrid. Searches like "mt 296 unit 9 assignment example", "mt296 unit 9 sample" and "mt296 unit 9 example" land here.
What a finished MT296 Unit 9 sales and operations plan looks like
A monthly planning grid and a cost summary anchor six to seven pages. Demand from April through March totals 490,000 cases, with the Lent months near 50,000 and 54,000 and December at 66,000. Regular capacity is 42,000 cases, overtime adds up to 6,300 at a $1.10 premium, the plant's freezer holds 18,000 cases at $0.42 a case each month, and overflow goes to a public cold store at $0.75 plus $0.60 handling. A level plan at 40,833 a month builds stock to 62,833 in October and costs $396,795, all of it storage. Chasing demand needs overtime in November and a temporary second shift in two rounds, about $185,000. The hybrid runs 34,000 a month from April to September and 47,667 from October on, for $151,550.
How a MT296 Unit 9 example is structured
The plan follows the monthly rhythm an S&OP meeting would use: demand, supply, inventory and cost, then a decision. The demand section presents the monthly forecast with its source and notes the Lent peak's moving date. Supply constraints come next, regular capacity, overtime ceiling, freezer space and the public cold store, each with its cost. Three plans are then built on the same grid, starting and ending the year at 12,000 cases and never falling below a 6,000-case floor. The cost summary breaks each plan into overtime, hiring, holding and outside storage, so the reader can see what drives each total. A paragraph explains that regular crew time left idle in summer is paid either way and goes to sanitation and maintenance. The recommendation and its headroom close the plan.
Demand by month, April to March
Starting the plan year in April puts both peaks, December and Lent, after the summer build, so the grid shows inventory rising and falling in one cycle.
Four supply limits
Regular output, the overtime ceiling, 18,000 cases of own freezer space and a public cold store for overflow. Each carries a cost the plans must pay if they use it.
The level plan's storage bill
Producing 40,833 cases every month avoids overtime but parks up to 62,833 cases, most of them in rented freezer space. Storage accounts for the whole $396,795 that plan costs.
Chasing into a second shift
Matching output to demand needs a temporary crew in two rounds, December and then February through March, at $38,000 to hire and $14,000 to release each time. The total lands near $185,000.
The hybrid and its headroom
Holding output at 34,000 through September and running 47,667 with overtime from October keeps peak stock near 29,333 cases. Only about 630 cases a month of overtime remain unused in winter.
Where marks go in MT296 Unit 9
Plans presented as a single strategy, with no alternatives costed, fall short of what instructors typically expect, because reconciling demand with capacity means choosing among alternatives. Inventory that dips below zero in the grid, unnoticed, is a surprisingly common error and signals that the plan was never checked month by month. Storage capacity treated as unlimited flatters the level plan. Costs reported only as totals hide which lever drives each plan. Papers that ignore the paid-but-idle regular time in slow months either double count it or leave a gap a reader will ask about. The best plans state their headroom, how much demand could rise before the chosen plan breaks, which is the question an S&OP meeting always asks first.
Get a MT296 Unit 9 example written to your instructions
Forward your Unit 9 demand forecast, capacity figures and cost data if the case supplies them, plus the prompt and the rubric. The sample builds the monthly grid, costs each strategy the prompt requires, and checks that inventory never dips below zero. First custom sample: free, returned within 24-48h, with headroom stated.
MT296 Unit 9 questions, answered
How do level, chase and hybrid plans differ?
A level plan produces at a constant rate and lets inventory absorb swings in demand. A chase plan changes output to match demand each period, using overtime, hiring or subcontracting. A hybrid mixes the two, often building some stock and flexing capacity for the rest. Most seasonal businesses land somewhere on a hybrid.
Where do the cost figures come from?
Your case usually supplies them. If not, estimate from typical ranges and say so: overtime premiums often run around half the hourly wage, holding cost is commonly 15 to 30 percent of product value a year, and hiring cost includes recruiting and training. Keep estimates visible so the grader can see how they drive the answer.
Does S&OP only concern production?
No. In practice it brings sales, operations, finance and supply planning to one agreed plan, and the meeting often adjusts demand as well as supply, through promotion timing or pricing. In a course assignment the emphasis is usually on the production plan, but a sentence on the demand levers shows you understand the wider process.