The case analysis for the L Corp Mendon plant in our view is as follows. There was a problem that the sales for Mendon plants were decreasing, so we think there are two points that L Corp’s managers missed. One is the marketing; the marketing department needs to implement the 4p’s principles of price, promote, place, and product. The other issue is referring to the managers who are responsible for forecasting and planning. The forecasting of sales is medium range and refers to the company sales, so we can use time series analysis & projection methods to forecast. Aggregate planning needs to be a focus. The flexibility provided by computer software like MRP can help control inventory levels an eliminate waste. Identify factors by asking for feedback that influenced GM to break contracts. A commitment to reestablish deals and ties with this very valuable customer. In regards to the employment decrease, we will help the managers of HR in L Corp in following points. First, our corporation should know the objective of each employee as soon as he or she joins our company. Then L Corp should believe, respect, and look at the employees as part of their family. Third, L Corp could provide development training to help reach company goals. Employees at L Corp Mendon are the greatest asset and the unused talent is a major waste. Lastly, L Corp can increase compensation to provide the incentive for the employees to care about the company performance. Working with HR will and an increase in employee compensation will increase moral. The increase of morale will be a natural progression as we make improvements to the Mendon plant overall. With the problem of bad lighting increase lighting, use correct watts to increase energy savings. Invest money into repairs and remodeling the facility in order to make process flow run smoothly and efficiently. In reference to the waste with regards to inventory we recommend pull system, and smaller lot sizes. Due to the high inventory, we should leave enough room to store the inventory. As a characteristic of good layout, it must provide for an efficient flow of workers and materials (N, Wu. 2006). We will locate the mold storage to be closer to production/operation area. To minimize the traveling and walking, we will move one of the tool rooms to the east, which is near the maintenance service machine shop. To make the officer get the materials more easily, we will exchange the printing room with the storage under the main office. Lastly, we want to move the R&D, which should be near the main office. We will exchange the R&D with the storage above the production press area The storage and warehouse layout must address the principles of slotting, zoning, space sizing, vertical product, picking, and five S implementation. The objective is effective storing, quick retrieval and storage. Low accuracy and aging plant require Mendon plant to assess why accuracy is so low in the tool crib and make the proper adjustments to fix the problems. Invest to fix any aging part of the factory which may hinder production. The layout for L Corp Mendon is a major problem that needs to be addressed. Starting with the warehouses, they should all be located next to each other and have dock access. They should also be connected so that going from one to the other is efficient. The main office should be in its own building along with all office need activities like printing. Then the mold storage should be moved in front of the production press area where the production machines are to complete assembly more efficiently. This will save time and make the company more efficient because the company would be using the natural progression of activities instead of moving from one place to another. The machining area will be connected to the maintenance service and the tool rooms. This will save time and money because when a machine breaks down the service people don’t have to go far and their tools are all in the same location. The assembly room will be connected to storage rooms, research, and development rooms. This lets researchers have access to needed materials they may want or need to use. For these implementations the building would have to go through some reconstruction and shifting of where activities were handled before. This will include some new docks and lots of door to connect all parts of the building. These changes in the plant layout alone will increase productivity and result in a reduction of lead time due to the elimination of wastes from excess movement around the plant during the manufacturing process. Furthermore, we recommend a computerized cataloging system of all inventories and storage. With such a system, accuracy and efficiency will significantly increase across the entire plant. Raw materials will now be quickly located and retrieved resulting in less time waste previously associated with beginning a new process. Sales and shipping times will benefit from a superior system that allows for the quick location and transport of finished products, and it will be a much easier task for the management team to analyze current inventories on hand and plan far more efficiently for future production leading to lower inventory and production costs. The $100,000 budget that the Mendon plant has to use on facility improvements should be allocated as follows:
- $25,000 for changes and reallocation of the Plant Layout
- $10,000 for cosmetic maintenance to promote modernization
- $10,000 for the implement of a cataloging system
- $45,000 for purchase of additional production equipment $10,000 for inventory and storage transportation equipment
In conclusion changes in the plant layout alone will increase productivity and result in a reduction of lead time due to the elimination of wastes from excess movement around the plant during the manufacturing process. Our group has determined the necessary improvements that the Mendon plant must make are with the plant layout, implementation of a cataloging system, and renovation of current facilities in order to increase production, efficiency, and morale while reducing cost and waste.
