National Furniture is concerned with the quality of it’s products so effective manufacturing processes are critical to the company's success.  (For more information about the inputs into the production process as well as quality control of that process, please see the appropriate chapters in the OPERATIONS section.)

Production scheduling is a function of allocating the company’s limited manufacturing resources correctly to fill both real orders and anticipated demand, within the constrains of the company inventory warehouse space.  The quantity of items produced and the production schedule will be  delivered weekly to the manufacturing manager by Amy Spreadsheet.  She will use a complex inventory counting and tracking program that will interact with the order processing system.  Essentially, Amy Spreadsheet will effectively balance the interests of the National Furniture inventory controls, customer demand, and manufacturing constraints through the use of this system.