Investigating Potential Scheduling Issues: An Assistants Responsibility

Question 1: Assume that you are Frank Johnson’s assistant, and he asks you to look into various scheduling problems that might occur. List and discuss them.

Scheduling Problems:

- Lead time: First of all; Starting date of this partnership wasn't mentioned; however; assume we are in month of June; According to the proposal the promotion will start by October 5th so prior to this date they should be ready with Soap and dishes taking into consideration that delivery time of Soap varies between 6 to 43 days.

But if we were in September for example; they won't be able to meet this lead time. In addition to; the delivery time of dishes this was not mentioned. -Picking and Packing: they need to take into consideration the packing time to make these packages specially that Dishes are fragile so they will need a special packing.

First, extra time will be needed to put the dishes in the packages. How will this affect production schedules? How must production and delivery be altered to ensure that all geographic markets, including Hawaii (if it is to be included in the TV campaign), receive the same dish items in the same week? In addition, will packages have special printings that tell what type of dish they contain? If so, there will be problems coordinating the same dishes with the same packages.

Get quality help now

Doctor Jennifer

Verified writer

Proficient in: Inventory

5 (893)

“ Thank you so much for accepting my assignment the night before it was due. I look forward to working with you moving forward ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Question 2: What packaging problems, if any, might there be? Packaging problems:

Dishes will need a special packing because they are fragile; so they might need special upgraded material for packing to avoid having broken dishes.

Labeling: they will need special labels marked with "Fragile Products". More time will be needed due to this special packing.

Will one package hold all five dishes, or will some require a unique package size (which will rule out the proposal)? What external changes in printing on the package will be needed? Will the packages safely transport the dishes? Will the changed weight of packages have an impact on handling, or on transportation costs? Question 3: Many firms selling consumer goods are concerned with problems of product liability. Does the dish offer present any such problems? If so, what are they? Can they be accommodated? First, breakage. Who reimburses the customer, who pays for soap, and who discovers broken glassware inside? If there are delivery snags or supply problems, what responsibility is there to provide consumers with dishes they could not obtain during the promotion? Does the firm’s product liability insurance cover problems that may occur from the dinnerware promotion?

Question 4: Should the exterior of the Sudsy Soap package be altered to show what dish it contains? If so, who should pay for the extra costs? The package should be altered externally to remind the customer of the promotion and indicate that there is a free item inside. Because the dish-maker gets free advertising from the soap packages, they should pay part of the costs. The splitting of these costs is subject to negotiation and would depend upon the overall agreement between the two firms.

Question 5: Assume that you are another one of Johnson’s assistants and your principal responsibility is managing the inventories of all the firm’s inputs, finished products, and outbound inventories. What additional work will the dish proposal cause for you? There might be a rise in sales, an increased need for all inputs into production, as well as need for higher capacity and inventories. There would need to be an estimate of the possible sales increase, demands imposed by new delivery requirements, and the change in package size and weight. In addition, incoming dishes would need to be monitored, as would specially-printed packages and outgoing packaged soap (classified by the type of dish inside). After the promotion, by how much, and for how long, will soap sales decline?

Question 6: You are Mr. Beever. Your staff has given many objections to the dish tie-in proposal, but you believe that much of the problem is your staff’s reluctance to try anything innovative. Draft a letter to the company that—although not accepting their proposal—attempts to clarify points that may be subject to misinterpretation and also takes into account some of your staff’s legitimate concerns. Some of the points the letter would cover include:

a) If we cannot fulfill delivery on schedule to all markets, to have the dishes in the right place when your TV campaign breaks, are we liable to you? To the customer? b) What if the dishes break in route from you to us? c) What quality assurance of your dinnerware product can you provide? d) If, for some reason, a customer cannot find pieces for an entire place setting, will you supply them missing pieces? At what cost? We don’t want any backlash against our company and soap product. e) Who pays the freight and insurance charges to get the dishes to our factory? f) Who pays for our increased packaging and handling costs? g) Who pays for the increased costs caused by complications added to our scheduling of outbound shipments? h) What is the content of the TV campaign? What shows will it appear on? How much mention will be made of our product? How, if at all, will our soap packages be shown on TV? i) Who will pay for the redesign of our packages? j) Will there be import duties on the dinnerware? Will we be reimbursed for paying them? k) Will you assume any liability in case we are sued because of something resulting from this promotion?

DISCUSSION

Several instructors use this case early in the course, and then as part of the final examination.

SUDSY SOAP Case Study
1-Scheduling Problems.
A-Lead time:
First of all; Starting date of this partnership wasn't mentioned; however; assume we are in month of June; According to the proposal the promotion will start by October 5th so prior to this date they should be ready with Soap and dishes taking into consideration that delivery time of Soap varies between 6 to 43 days. But if we were in September for example; they won't be able to meet this lead time. In addition to; the delivery time of dishes this was not mentioned.

B- Picking and Packing: they need to take into account the packing time to make these packages specially that Dishes are fragile so they will need a special packing.

2-packaging problems:
▪ Dishes will need a special packing because they are fragile; so they might need special upgraded material for packing to avoid having broken dishes.
▪ Labeling : they will need special labels marked with "Fragile Products".
▪ More time will be needed due to this special packing.

3- Product liability is: "the area of law in which manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers, and others who make products available to the public are held responsible for the injuries those products cause"; in addition to this; product liability is the defect that might occur for any product. I believe that dish offer present such problem; because it could be broken easily as dishes are Classified as fragile products but this can be accommodated through the good safety packing same as for DG. Meaning extra cost will exist.

4-I believe that yes; exterior of the sudsy soap should be alerted to what is inside the package. Because in that sense he will be more interested and more précised regarding either buying or not buying the set and this will be according to his needs. For the extra cost accompanying this option ; I believe it depends which partner will gain more benefit ; and in this case I think the dish partner...