Discussion:
Q: The Fastgro Fertilizer Company distributes fertilizer to various lawn and garden shops. The company must base its quarterly production schedule on a forecast of how many tons of fertilizer will be demand from it. The company has gathered the following data for the past three years from its sales records.
year-------Quarter--------Demand for Fertilizer(tons)
1 1 105
2 150
3 93
4 121
2 5 140
6 170
7 105
8 150
3 9 150
10 170
11 110
12 130
a) Compute a three-quarter moving average forecast for quarters 4 through 13 and compute the forecast for each quarter.
b) Develop a seasonally adjusted forecast for the demand data for fertilizer. Then use a linear trend line model to compute a forecast estimate for demand in year 4.