A capacity cushion is the amount of capacity less than expected demand.
Inventory is defined as the stock of any item or resource used in an organization.
Because a level production strategy does not require adjustment in the short-to-medium
term, aggregate sales and operations planning is not required.
The aggregate operations plan translates annual and quarterly business plans into broad
labor and output plans for the intermediate term of 3 to 18 months.
One of the many lean techniques that have been successfully applied in service firms is
leveling facility load.