Hello. This assignment is due Jun 6th at 10pm (EDT). Let me know what you can do for me.
All’s Well * Becky Martins walked into her office around 7:00 a.m. on Monday, a little earlier than usual. “Good Morning, I am very sorry I could not make it to your wedding. I am sure you had a great celebration”, she says to her secretary, Carol, who had just returned from a two-week leave. Carol replies: “Oh yes, we had a very wonderful wedding with family and friends sharing the special occasion with us. I fully understand that you’ve had a lot to do lately. Thanks for the beautiful gift you sent to us – that was very thoughtful of you. Thanks also for your understanding and support during the preparations.” Becky has been under serious pressure for some time now trying to deal with many issues, including late shipments to crucial customers of Bells Home Appliances, Inc., the company at which she is the Director of Manufacturing. Just last week, Brussels, Inc., a customer for a product in one of Bells’ major product lines sent in a report about quality issues that need to be addressed. They had just received dealers’ reports about performance of their product in the market: a major product recall appears inevitable. Quality trace indicates that the problems were due to defective parts shipped to them from Bells’ plant. The quantifiable loss in dollars (aside from the loss of goodwill) will amount to over 1.2 million dollars, and they insist that Bells will have to take responsibility for the losses. She picked up the phone and called Tim Mayfield, the Production Manager. Becky: How far have you gone with preparing the production plan for the refrigerators. We need to act fast. Tim: I have been waiting for Greg (Greg Miller is the Marketing Manager), to furnish us with reports about sales projections. Becky: Why has it taken him so long to get this information to you? If I remember correctly, at our last meeting, an agreement was reached that the information be forwarded to you by the end of September, that was two weeks ago. Tim: Yes, I know. I’ll get right on it. After talking with Tim, Becky called Greg. Becky: Good Morning, Greg. Greg: Good Morning. What’s up? Becky: What’s the status of sales projection for our next planning cycle? Greg: We have almost finished work on it, and it should be ready by Friday. Tim arranged a meeting on Friday with the people in Marketing and Sales to reach a decision on demand forecasts. After all the deliberations, they agree to use a 1-year planning horizon as in the past, but with 2-month time buckets, instead of the quarterly time buckets that had previously been used. The production facility is usually closed for some part of June and December for vacation and equipment maintenance. The demand forecasts, as well as the number of work days during the period were compiled and are presented below: Jan/Feb Mar/Apr May/June July/Aug Sept/Oct Nov/Dec Forecast Refrigerators 6,200 4,000 5,500 7,600 4,200 3,500 # Workdays 44 40 36 42 44 38 Bells’ plant operates only one shift from 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. and there is a 1-hour lunch break from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m., at which time no production occurs. When necessary, overtime work can be arranged, but factory rule limits overtime per worker to 3 hours per day. The production time requirement is 2 hours per unit of product. Workers, on average are paid $18 per hour during regular time and at a rate that is 50% higher for overtime. Inventory holding costs are about $7 per month, based on average inventory. It is estimated that the unit cost to the firm for not using production capacity during regular work time is equivalent to 1.2 times the unit labor cost. Materials, overhead and miscellaneous costs are estimated as $275 per unit. Estimated hiring and firing costs are $3000 and $2000, respectively. The company’s basic policy is to use a constant workforce. However, given the current problems, some changes in the workforce might be considered. With the current workforce level of 25 workers for this product line, the company cannot meet anticipated demand. Therefore, it has arranged to subcontract some production to a well-known company, Gretchen, Inc. This subcontractor has a standing offer with Bells to provide 500 units, 1000 units, and 600 units in the first (Jan/Feb), fourth (July/Aug), and sixth (Nov/Dec) periods, respectively. These amounts are contractually fixed, although Bells can opt out of the contract amount for any given period, if timely notification is made to Gretchen. The subcontract price with Gretchen is $335 per unit. Another small subcontracting firm, Bradford, Inc., can supply the products at $330 per unit during any period. They require a purchase of 350 units in a period with a fixed $80 per unit charge for unused capacity. No more than 350 units can be purchased from Bradford in any given period. Bells’ long-standing policy is not to have backorders. A beginning inventory level of 500 units of refrigerators is planned and the company desires to have at least that amount of inventory at the end of the planning horizon. Based on the above information, Becky asked Tim to develop the minimum-cost production plan. Furthermore, recent reports from the Quality Control Manager indicated that items produced during overtime tended to have significantly higher defects, leading to considerable losses to the company. Concerned about the recent experience with Brussels, Inc., Becky has instructed Tim to come up with a solution to the problem raised by the Quality Control Manager from a production planning perspective (including analysis and rationale) before the next meeting which is only 5 days away. Becky is already running late as the set date to discuss this information with other senior managers is fast approaching. At the end of a long hard week, Tim got into his car to head home. While he was driving, he could not help but ponder impending deadline Becky had set for him. On arriving home, his 6-year old son, William, walked up to him and embraced him. Looking up at him, he said, “Daddy, you don’t look very happy today, what’s wrong?” Tim was surprised that his son had noticed the concern he’s been having over this problem. With a smile on his face, he turned to William and said, “All’s well.” Assignment (25 Points) Grading criteria and expectations will be discussed in class.
Hello. This assignment is due Jun 6th at 10pm (EDT). Let me know what you can do for me.
To This may be done individually or in groups (3 max). Please make one submission per group. Make sure that each group members last name is in the file title and on the memo and spreadsheet. Required: Memo to Becky Two Production Plans I. Memo to Becky: Memo: Production Plan Options To: Becky Martins From: Tim Mayfield, (your name names) Becky, (Memo Content) Describe two different Production Plan Options (Plan A) and (Plan B), Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of each. Recommend one of the Plans for Becky to present to the top management. Provide a succinct justification of your recommended plan. Develop 5 (bulleted) talking points Becky can use to develop her presentation to top management ______________________________________________________________ II. Two Production Plans Backup information for Becky: Create an excel file containing a spreadsheet with two tabs: Plan A and Plan B. The plans should show a complete production plan as well as the projection of revenues and costs for each period (6) of the coming year. The total cost of each plan should also be calculated. Any information used in your memo related to one of these plans should reference the plan (e.g., see plan A, total cost). You may cut and paste portions of you plans into your report to Becky. Please Submit two files:  A Word or PDF file of your memo to Becky with your comparison of the plans, rationale for the recommended plan.  Be sure reference any supporting materials taken from your plans. (15 points) An Excel file of your production plans. Again, this is backup material for Becky to assist her in a final presentation, so accuracy is important. (10 points).