in accordance with its programmed logic to determine the financial effects of the proposed process during this time the system logic will not only conduct manufacturing efficiency analysis but also carry out inventory tracking develop a monthly production schedule and determine monthly sales and month end profits and losses the system 62 will then repeat the analysis running the simulation and processing the data for a second subsequent manufacturing period i e a second month the system 62 will continue to do iterative analysis of the proposed changes for subsequent time periods until the end of the specified simulation time frame is reached the system 62 then generates or outputs various reports 63 concerning the operations and finances of the business these reports 63 can include for example profit and loss statements by month balance sheets by month trend charts for key financial measurers and customer service levels and stock outages to demonstrate the advantageous uses of the multi period financial simulator as described above consider an example where a manufacturing business seeks to determine what the financial results would be in response to implementing a lean manufacturing program that emphasizes minimizing the amount of all resources including time used in the manufacturing process the simulator is provided with various input data describing select characteristics or operating parameters of the proposed lean.