United Screen Printing

1. Construct an aggregate project plan for USP.

- See attached PDF

2. What criteria would you recommend USP use in selecting its projects this year?

- I would recommend using the Operating/Competitive Necessity method for deciding projects. This would allow USP to see what would give them the best competitive advantage while maintaining or lowering cost.

3. Based on your recommended criteria and the aggregate project plan, what projects would you recommend US fund this year? Are there any types of projects you would recommend USP pursue that were not proposed?

- Based off this, I would recommend USP to proceed with the two projects to purchase printers (new/upgraded large press printer and inkjet printer). This would allow them to continue to keep up with their competitors on smaller orders while still allowing them to printer larger or outdoor orders on the large press. They would be able to take projects of all size and stay competitive. I would advise against the ISO 9000 certification at this time as there is not obvious benefits present at this time. Building the new headquarters would be a low priority, since there seems to be no additional benefits other than increased debt (and I would not consider that a benefit).

- Without knowing their whole environment, I'd suggest a project to allow job submissions electronically. This would allow USP to accept orders from anywhere. They would then be able to allow more time on the order itself vs processing and administrative-type duties.

4. What, if any, additional information would you want in making your recommendations? How would you go about obtaining this information?

- I would want to know best-practices for the industry. While competitors may not be willing to give up their secrets, often vendors are willing to give company names when recommended. In regards to the printers, and cost-effectiveness, I would ask for names of companies in a similar position to mine who have recently...