forecasting of demand
INTRODUCTION A forecast is an estimate of an event which will happen in future. The event may be demand of a product, rainfall at a particular place, population of a particular country, or growth of a technology. The forecast value is not deterministic quantity. Since, it is an estimate based on past data related to a particular event, proper care must be given in estimating it. In any industrial enterprise, forecasting is the first level decision activity that is the demand of a particular product must be available before taking any other decision problems like material planning, scheduling, type of production system (mass or batch production ) to be implemented, etc. DEMAND FORECASTING The demand forecast gives the expected level of demand for goods or services. This is the basic input for business planning and control. Hence, decisions for all the functions of any corporate house are influenced by demand forecast. In simple words, forecast means prediction of future even