Caselet 1: Englander Container Englander Container manufactures cardboard boxes used to ship products, not package them. The company makes boxes for U-Haul, Mayflower Moving and Storage, and other...

Caselet 1: Englander Container Englander Container

manufactures cardboard boxes used to ship products, not package them. The company makes boxes for U-Haul, Mayflower Moving and Storage, and other shipping companies such as Fed-Ex and UPS. Englander also sells direct to companies that ship the products they make, such as Procter & Gamble. The company’s sales figures for the past 20 quarters are provided in the following table:

Late this year, the company was able to secure a General Services Administration contract to provide containers to the U.S. government. The contract enabled the company to bid on special packaging needs for the U.S. military. Currently, the company has almost $100 million in four bids on military contracts that will be decided upon in the first quarter of next year. It expects to bid on another $300 million in additional government contracts that will be decided upon later during the year.

Questions

 1. Use two different trend analysis methods and determine how much the company will sell next year. How confident are you that this is an accurate forecast? What additional information or methods would you like to incorporate in your forecast?

 2. Assume that the company is manufacturing at 90 percent of its capacity in order to meet its current sales levels. If it wins every U.S. government contract it’s bid on, what impact will that have?