Doug's Den

A. Viewpoint

We see the case as a consultant.

B. Significant Case Facts

• Just a year after he finished college, he had annual revenue of $800,000 and 2 employees.

• At present, the business has annual revenues of $3.2 million and has not only built den for dogs but also for other animals

• Doug has been noting more problems recently regarding inventory shortages and late delivery time.

C. Problems

• The promised lead time for a final product is usually 3 weeks, but in the past year, lead time has increased rapidly to an average of 8 weeks.

• In terms of their method of production, it has only been effective for 2 years. In the past 6 months, it has been less effective

• Having inventory shortages.

D. Alternative Courses of Action

• Hire more workers to speed up production process

• Add more machines and tools to ease the process even more

• Use the MRP or also known as Material Requirement Planning

• Make products ahead of time

• Think of alternative ways of production

• Hire someone who graduated in a business or marketing course and replace the current supervisor in Production who studied Entomology in college.

E. Analysis of Alternative Courses of Action

Advantages:

• The working process will be light and faster

• Production will be easier because of the new machines and tools

• With MRP, they can plan manufacturing activities, delivery schedules and purchasing activities.

• Since there are already finished products, the delivery time will be lessened

• The new production supervisor is more knowledgeable than the previous one and have more background on business and marketing.

Disadvantages:

• It will cost them more if they will hire a new employee since they need to give what is due to the employees that they...