Short Essay about Natural Designs

Improve manufacturing and delivery systems In order to meet desired delivery time. 2. Describe the operations strategy for Natural Designs.

Has this strategy changed as a result of the custom bird feeder operation? If yes, how? A. Natural designs provided a limited amount of products with color variations available by selecting from the 10 styles with variations up to 500 SITS. November 2, 2010 Business Administration 240 Yes, the strategy changed from providing variety based on fixed and Limited designs, o creating variations based on the customers desires and specifications. This may also have lead to returned orders because of the detailed and clear communication necessary for customized goods) 3. What might have been done differently to facilitate the offering of custom bird feeders? A. Customers may have been provided choices for limited customization, such as variety of colors or finishing they can get it in, but not to the extent where the details would consume more labor time resulting too reduction In profit margins.

Pricing would not be fixed at SIS for customization. It should vary depending on the amount and intricacy of the customization requested for. B. 4.How should Master analyze the alternative expansion options? Which would you recommend: a second faculty or a move to a single, larger facility? A.

B. Master should first consider where the bulk of his customers are coming from or located He should also consider the amount of space and work area necessary for his expected volume for the coming years considering the 10% annual increase in sales. Recommendation: 1. If the bulk of his customers come from more than area, it would e good to move closer to where his customers are. So opening a second branch In a strategic location would help Improve dilutions. University of the Philippines Operations M management MBA Mid-term Exam Example: If majority of customers are from California and Chicago, it would be good to open a second location in the next area 2.

If the distribution is varied it would be good to be located near his TAP and have one large plant. It would also be good If this could be close to his source for raw materials. Running camps 2. Decisions are being made at present date Case Summary: Natural Design as a company that was founded in 1995 started out as a service provider, providing presentations and running camps.

The company then evolved in order to provide both products and services. In 1997 the company grew requiring a new location (400 square-foot facility) employees New intimidation implementation's customization$100,ooh angleworms/0 50%0 increase,year 30%0Returnsooooooooooooo Increaseotnorequtred01ead0 time Reductionotnoprofltomargtno (Monocotyledons)0 onlineosalesoooooooooooooooo 1 completes 1995 1997 2010 Case Analysis: In a span of 15 years Natural Designs, Incorporated, has 1. Increase the number of supply avenues from retailers to direct online sales a.We could assume that this made distribution countrywide b.

Purchase decisions are made based on online descriptions and photos 2. Has increased service offerings to accommodate customization 3. Has an annual sales growth rate of 10% 4. Has almost if not already maximized the facility's capacity 5.

Reached the verge of another expansion Issues & Suggestions: 1 . Employee Satisfaction on quality is dropping based on 30% of returns a. The connection that the company used to have that provided the product sales and served as marketing such as the presentations and camps are no longer available to all customers. .

Online videos, articles, or inclusion or written or visual message may serve as support, to provide the value once part and reason for purchasing the product. (Since the company initially started as a service provider with a message they wanted to share) University of the Philippines Operations M management MBA Mid-term Exam b. Due to sales being made online, the customer has no way of checking the quality of the rotgut, and inspecting if it satisfies his/her own standards which could be the probable cause of 30% of returns. . Detailed description of the product should be made fully available to the clients when purchasing the products in order not to have misleading information.

II. Addition of testimonies from satisfied customers may be a good way to market and describe the product. Ill. Provision of online chat or sales support should the buyer have questions regarding the product would be helpful to prevent misunderstandings on the products quality and value.

The increase in number of products produced may result in a decline in quality. L.Addition of internal quality control and check measures could be put in place. 2. There have been backlogs in delivery from the average of 4. 5 to 9.

2 business days a. The amount of sales could no longer be handled by the 15 manpower workforce (Considering that rare assigned to sales and marketing and 1 is assigned to customization) l. Addition of manpower should be provided to satisfy the demand. II. The company may also want to apply hiring processes used by DHAL that hires part mime service during peak seasons in order to provide volume flexibility.

B.The market expansion resulted to longer delivery time due to distance between buyer and supplier or the sheer number of demand. L. Since the company currently has 500 SKIS, they could incorporate an automated system that would be connected to their online store as well as their retailers. This system could provide information directly to the company and the TAP. 3.

The additional variety profit generation is not quantified.