Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) Practice Exam

Which aspect of APS involves creating forecasts for production?

1. Resource management

2. Operational level

3. Demand management

4. Requirements optimization

The correct answer is: Demand management

The aspect of Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) that involves creating forecasts for production is demand management. This process entails analyzing historical data, market trends, and customer behavior to predict future demand for products. Accurate demand forecasts are crucial as they inform production planning, inventory control, and resource allocation, ensuring that the right amount of product is produced at the right time to meet customer needs while minimizing excess inventory. While resource management focuses on effectively utilizing and allocating resources such as labor and machinery, and operational level deals with the execution of day-to-day activities in the supply chain, demand management specifically targets understanding and projecting customer demand patterns. Requirements optimization, on the other hand, involves determining the best allocation of resources to meet the forecasted demand rather than generating the forecasts themselves. Thus, demand management is central to the APS framework as it helps align production capacity with market needs.