Internationally, franchise stores exist that represent Company XYZ within the local communities. Sales associated with daycare/early childhood centers are treated as private orders and are handled differently than orders placed for sale to wholesalers (or retailers). .
The widgets produced and distributed by Company XYZ are considered a commodity product and highly elastic in economic terms. The competition is fierce and plentiful. Therefore, it becomes imperative that Company XYZ run lean and keeps overhead expenses to a minimum. Internal improvements at any level would benefit the bottom line profit margin.
Company Goal.
Company XYZ enjoys approximately $250 million annually in the sales of widgets to their distribution customers. Mr. Whatsinaname has observed the amount of sales steadily decreasing over the past several months. After interviewing former and present customers, as well as reviewing the results of a customer satisfaction survey, he determined that the Orders Department is the source of the decrease in sales revenue. The Orders Department consists of five people who spend 100% of their workweek manually entering orders into the order system. There are several venues through which orders are received: e-mail, phone, websites, fax, EDI, and flat files. Regardless of how the information arrives, each order is completed in the same way. Since orders are entered manually, there is a greater potential for human errors. Team B has been organized to find a way to automate order entry so that Company XYZ can reduce overhead, minimize order mistakes and achieve faster order entry. The key focus initiatives are as follows: accuracy, speed, capacity, and versatility.
Accuracy.
Order accuracy is important to Company XYZ's customer service initiatives. By either ordering more product or discontinuing carrying a product line, retail distributors reward order accuracy and penalize suppliers for inaccurate orders.