A method of forecasting the demand for components used to manufacture a
plurality of different devices is presented. The method determines a
production quantity of each of the devices planned to be manufactured,
analyzes each of the devices to produce exploded lists of components
required to manufacture each of the devices and device assemblies,
multiplies the list of components required for each device by each the
production quantity to determine a total volume of each component
required to manufacture the devices, identifies components as ones having
a level of supply insufficient to meet demand and having no available
substitute components, and calculates a volume of each critical component
required to manufacture the devices based on the total volume of each
component.