The meeting of forecasted demand, while minimizing cost over the planning horizon, is the objective of?

The objective of meeting forecasted demand while minimizing costs over the planning horizon is primarily associated with aggregate planning. This process involves developing a comprehensive plan that details how resources will be allocated to meet anticipated demand, balancing production capacity, labor, inventory levels, and other operational factors.

Aggregate planning encompasses strategies for both production and inventory management, aiming to align the supply of products with the demand forecast efficiently. By focusing on cost minimization, businesses can enhance profitability while ensuring output aligns with customer needs, thus avoiding excess costs from overproduction or shortages from underproduction.

In contrast, cross planning typically refers to coordinating among different functions or departments rather than focusing solely on demand and cost. Vendor-managed inventory involves suppliers managing inventory levels, which changes the dynamics of stock management but does not directly encapsulate the aggregate approach. Moving average planning is a forecasting technique that smooths past data to predict future demand but does not address the broader scope of resource allocation and cost minimization that aggregate planning entails.