On the one hand, it is understandable that Virgil would wish to avoid the consequences of a negative report from the insurance inspectors. This kind of report drives up the insurance premiums the business is forced to pay and even threatens Virgil’s ability to continue in his position at the warehouse. However, for Tim there are a number of serious problems with the suggestion that Virgil has made.
There is also a question of safety. By following the orders Virgil has laid out for him, Tim would be violating basic safety principles. If the manufacturer felt that the specially designed boxes and brackets were essential for safety, bypassing this and shipping them anyway would be a safety violation.
Time should first confirm that there is no way for him to obtain the boxes and brackets in the few hours that he has before the inspectors arrive. If this is the case, then he should simply refuse to do as Virgil has instructed him. He should make the case to Virgil that for safety, ethical and legal reasons, it would be unwise for him to do as Virgil had instructed.
2. Now you’re the CEO. By coincidence you just happen to be in the office next door to
Virgil’s while he was talking with Tim. Their animated conversation was loud enough that
you heard every word. Neither Virgil nor Tim is aware that you overheard their
conversation. What, if anything, do you plan to do?
In all probability, the best action to take at this juncture is to fire Virgil (if the union will allow it). Not only is he behaving in an unethical manner, his actions would place the company had a huge liability risk should any sort of accident occur. Beyond this, the CEO should ensure that Virgil’s replacement is better organized and more closely follows safety practices.
Obviously, Donna has a problem that must be dealt with “now”, For starters,
List the information that Donna must determine before selecting a course of action.
She must confirm that the warehouse actually has the requested item in stock in the quantities requested.
If they do have what the Kwal-Mart warehouse wants, then it is necessary to determine if they can get these items to them in a timely manner, while recovering the items that were incorrectly shipped.
Under normal circumstances, what options would most likely be available to Donna?
If there is no urgency in the order, it might be possible to simply include these items with the next shipment to that warehouse, at which time the truck could bring back the lemon-vanilla scones.
If there is urgency to the order, then a shipment would have to be made specifically for caring that order to the warehouse.
Prioritize the options, once from Kwal-Mart’s perspective and again, on the basis of estimated cost, from AS&B’s perspective.
A. From the perspective of Kwal-Mart, the preferable approach would be to immediately resend the items in question, with the option to send it later being less preferable. From AS&B’s perspective, it would be much more preferable from a cost perspective to send the items along with the next scheduled shipment to the Kwal-Mart warehouse.
4. What action might Donna initiate to lesson the burden of future errors such as this one?
Clearly, there were two principal problems that contributed to this error. The first was that the SKU numbers for the two very similarly named items were almost identical. All it took was the transposition of one number to cause this mistake. Similarly named items in the warehouse should have entirely different SKU numbers. Secondly, her employee demonstrates a lack of interest in in accuracy and should be fired (again, if possible).
Case Study No. 3: Who says I have to tuck-in my shirt?
1. Okay. You’re warehouse manager Dan Daring. You’ve had your coffee and cooled down. Now what are you going to say to Frank Rudeman?
To begin with, I would ask him whether he was having personal problems that were causing his behavior. It might well be that some issue with his family is making him irritable and making it difficult for him to keep himself properly groomed. Of course, while Dan might lend a sympathetic ear, in the end he needs for Frank to do his job and interact well with other employees. This needs to be made clear to Frank.
2. Do you consider placing a screen across the back dock and telling other employees to leave Frank alone reasonable options?
Obviously, this is a not a solution to the problem. Employees in a warehouse have to work together and interact with one another.
3. Do you think this situation needs to be referred to corporate counsel?
Possibly, although it might be best to speak to Frank first.
3.5 ¢
Assignment : Case Study No. 4: With friends like this?
Based on the facts provided, put yourself into Dan’s shoes and answer the following:
When you return Bull’s call, how much higher, if any, will you be willing to raise the storage rate for chocolate sauce in plastic jugs?
.5¢
· What, if anything, will you say to Karla about this?
And that she should have been much clearer that she was actually implementing her plan to switch to plastic.
· Did changing the jar from glass to plastic create any other distribution advantages or disadvantages? Identify and briefly discuss each.
A principle advantage of the switch from glass to plastic is that glass is far more easily damaged and broken in the transport process. Plastic also weighs a good deal less, which makes it easier to load, unload and transport.
As suggested above though, a disadvantage is that plastic cannot be stacked as high as glass.
· What else, if anything, should Dan do in this situation?
Sit down in the aisle seat next to interim NRU warehouse manager Greg Rockwell as he plans his first day on the job tomorrow. Share some of your wisdom with him.
· What should Greg plan to do tomorrow?
He should hold a meeting with all personnel to clear the air what’s been going on. Clearly, the employees feel that red has been mistreated. Or the very least, they feel loyalty to him despite his own personal failings. Greg needs to (on the one hand) lend a sympathetic ear. On the other hand, he needs to make it quite clear that timeliness and sobriety are important to the business and to its continuing operation. Also, he needs to point out that a drunk employee in a warehouse puts the safety of everyone else working better at risk.
· If Red shows up, how should Greg handle the situation?
He should be fired if possible. Doing anything else would essentially be handing over control of the warehouse operations to someone else. Unfortunately, union resistance might present a problem.
· What do you suggest to prevent recurrences of situations such as this?
The institution of substance abuse policies and programs at the warehouse might be extremely useful, if for no other reason because it would allow the employees to know that the situation was taken seriously.
Better documentation of disciplinary problems and actions would also make it easier to deal with employees like red in the future. This is particularly the case if it becomes necessary to fire them in the face of union resistance.
Okay, pretend you’re Frank and Mounty waiting on the other end of the line to decide Red’s immediate future. Be sure to engage brain before inserting foot in mouth.
What, if anything are you going to say to Mounty about Red?
Legally, Frank has to be very careful about what he says regarding Red. On the one hand, Frank can legally discuss the problems that his company had with Red and give his opinions about him as long as these problems and those opinions are supported by clearly documented facts. If they are, there is very little at a former employee like Red can do about it. On the other hand, if negative statements are made that cannot be supported or if those statements could be considered slander, then Frank and his company could get sued.
What aren’t you going to say?
It’s best to avoid mentioning any incidents that cannot be proven to be directly tied to Red personally. For instance, if none of the incidents that seem suspiciously like sabotage could be directly tied to him, they should not be mentioned.
What’s wrong with this picture? Use this page and keep your answer to no more than two-hundred words.
There are many things wrong with this picture. The first is that the creation of reports has become a mere formality. The result has been that reports are being generated by Andy that are never being read by his superior. Either the reports are necessary (in which case they should be read) or they are unnecessary, in which case they should not be done. Not only is this an enormous waste of Andy’s time, it also demonstrates that the organization is badly organized and that the upper management has no real understanding of what’s going on at lower levels. His superiors desire for explanatory graphics makes this clear. At the same time, and he himself is not interacting sufficiently with his employees. This is made obvious by the fact that they are surprised to see him on the loading dock. At both levels, the men involved need have a more hands-on approach.
Assume that you are Tim Johnson.
•What options should be explored to solve the space shortage?
Find somewhere else to temporarily store the trailers coming in.
Hire space in a nearly warehouse.
Try to rearrange the current space to greater advantage.
Ship items out early to free up space.
Expand the size of the current warehouse.
•What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option?
Temporally soring the loaded trailers elsewhere means wasting time and not being able to use the trailers for something else.
Renting space elsewhere is an additional expense.
Rearranging the warehouse will require considerable effort, if it will even be sufficient.
Shipping items early might not be possible if the recipients prefer to wait.
Expanding the warehouse will take at least months and require a lot of investment.
•Which options are short term?
Storing the trailers or items elsewhere are short term solutions.
Which are long term?
Expanding the warehouse is a long term solution.
Sit down in Bull’s swivel chair.
What are you going to tell Donna at AS&B when you call her back?
I would simply explained to her that the one-day delay caused in the delivery was a consequence of a direct request by the recipient to delay the delivery. Thus, the $1000 penalty was unwarranted. While there was no documented proof that a packing slip was included, it seems highly likely that it was. The disorganization that seemed to be taking place at the other warehouse lends credence to this.
Are vendor/carrier penalty policies such as Kwal-Mart’s necessary? Explain why you believe they are or aren’t.
Vendor/carrier penalty policies like this are certainly necessary to ensure that items are delivered on schedule and according to the terms of the contract.
Is Kwal-Mart’s penalty policy fairly administered? Explain why or why not.
Clearly, this policy is not fairly administered. Even though the fault for the one-day delay was on their own heads, they chose to shift the blame (and the penalties) on to someone else.
If you were Bull, would you reimburse AS&B for Kwal-Mart’s deduction?
I would not reimburse them for the $1000 late penalty. Given that the fault for this delay was Kwal-Mart’s, there should be no late penalty. I might consider reimbursing them for the $500, since it seems that bull is unable to clearly prove that the packing slip was included.
Put yourself into Donna’s shoes: How do you plan to handle this?
I would ask that bull and his company reimburse me for the $500, but I would also demand that Kwal-Mart’s remove the $1000 late penalty.
Imagine you are Dan, and with roughly sixteen hours to prepare for tomorrow’s OSHA inspections..
Make a prioritized list of what you plan to accomplish between now and tomorrow’s visit by the OSHA compliance officer.
Make sure that all safety requirements are clearly posted. This includes not only general safety requirements but those specific to certain tasks.
Associated with the above, make sure that all signage is correctly located and easy to read.
Ensure that all employees are adhering to minimum safety standards (or better).
Is a short meeting in which safety standards are reviewed, including a pop quiz.
Conduct a safety sweep of the entire warehouse looking for any problems that need to be addressed.
What should Dan say to Emily?
He should apologize and say he is attempting to rectify the problem.
What should Dan say to Harry?
He is should point out that Harry the reason for the problems was that the recipients insisted on a warehouse closer to them so that there would be no further delays.
What should Harry say to the brokers, salesmen, and complaining customers?
Harry should not necessarily delay what Dan has said to him, but he should reassure all of these individuals that steps are being taken to address the problem.
What else, if anything do you think Dan should do about this problem?
He should look for another warehouse to use for this purpose, since the one selected clearly is too disorganized and poorly run for his purposes. In the meantime, he should closely monitor the SOS warehouse to reduce such problems in the immediate future.
Put yourself into Emily’s shoes. As the SOS representative responsible for the WBS account:
What should you respond to Dan/
I would insist on compensation for the problems that were being caused. I would also to know what steps were being taken to address the problems.
What should you say to the SOS warehouse supervisor and/or order pickers?
I would make it clear to the supervisor that they were contractually obligated to meet our expectations and that they were failing to do so. Moreover, such failures could lead to the cancellation of their services.
References
Warehouse Profitability Guide
