Investigating how business works - a family firm that manufactures clothes

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INVESTIGATING HOW BUSINESS WORKS

PHILIP MARKHAM LTD

GNVQ BUSINESS STUDIES INTERMEDIATE UNIT 1

Philip Markham Ltd is a family firm. It is traditional manufacturers of classic men swear and produces a wide range of exclusive shirts and ties. It also sells a more limited range of trousers, jackets, overcoats and sweaters. Only shirts and ties are manufactured in the factory in Marlington. Other items are obtained by placing orders with specialist manufacturers.

Philip Markham aims to manufacture and sell high quality men’s clothing at fair, competitive prices and to all its customers.

Objectives are to use high quality fabric for the shirts and customers can select which style of sleeve of collar they prefer, which type of sleeve fastening and even the length of the sleeve.

The four functional areas I will be looking at are: -

Resources and IT

Finance

Production

Human Resources

Resources and IT

The company operates from a large factory, which was purchased by Philip Markham in the 1920s. Jack’s father, the great grandson of Philip Markham refurbished it in the 1970s and the offices are quite spacious and pleasant.

The company first introduced computers in the 1980s. Kim Fields was appointed in 1992 and the company now has a small-networked computer system. Computers are used for:

  • Recording purchases and sales
  • Preparing financial and management accounts
  • Recording payroll information and calculating salaries and wages each month
  • Recording orders received from mail order customers analysing these
  • Keeping a database of all personnel employed by the company
  • Preparing letters and memos
  • Sending e-mails between departments.

At the time the IT facilities were introduced it has been planned to locate them within the finance function. Finally, however, it was decided that it should be linked to Administration, as it involved all areas of the business.

Marsha Webb is currently investigating how IT could help her to monitor manufacturing levels more easily.

Finance

The ten staff that works in finance are very important to the success of the company’s Philip Markham. Above all they make sure that they receive the money they are owed, they pay employee bills – and you receive your salary each month. They also make sure that each department does not spend more than it has been allocated. Each department has a budget, which is monitored by its administrator and director – as well as by finance – which can give up-to-date information on the level of expenditure at any time.

Finance also has the task of preparing all the accounts each year so that they comply with their legal responsibilities to the Inland Revenue.

Pete Martin, however, undertakes number-crunching activities on a far more regular basis. He is their management accountant and his responsible for checking that their production levels and sales are on target. He advises all the directors about the current financial health of the company on a weekly basis.

Production

In the induction programme Philip Markham show people who visit their Production area and show them all the different operations that are carried out.

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The layout of the area has been designed to maximise the flow of materials when they are producing shirts, from cutting to finishing. After shirt material has been cut it is clipped with either a blue ticket – for standard shirts – or a red ticket, for customised shirts. Blue ticket items are passed to the machinists who carry out all the main sewing operations. Red ticket items go to a different group of machinists who also carry out the alterations required. The finishers are responsible for adding all the finishing touches – from the buttons to the label – ...

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