Case Assignment: BUCKEYE BROWNIES COMPANY

Your work should address clearly each question below. Space per answer can be allocated as you choose within the overall Case format instructions. When Tables are used as attachments, please refer to them specifically in answering any question below:

1. Answer the following questions:

a. Identify the competitive dimension(s) for the core business

b. What is your position on the product offering(s)? Should Buckeye Brownies offer coffee? A more diverse product offering?

2. Prepare a labeled Process Flowchart of the brownie making. This does not have to include time lines, which are addressed in the next question.This does not require a computer preparation; a neat,hand-drawn presentation is acceptable.

3. Prepare a Process Analysis (See Chapter 11) of the business. This should be formatted as a Table of the sequential steps providing the Process time required at each one and, separately, the Cycle Time per unit, where units could be a measure by pound, by brownie or by rack- but be consistent.

4. Answer the following, specific questions:

a. When the owners first come into the store each morning, it takes about 1 minute to get the first batch of ingredients into the mixer since they had been portioned out the prior evening. In the meantime, the oven will be turned on and ready as needed. If they want to be ready to sell brownies at their 8:00 am opening, what time do they have to come in?

b. The mixing machine has the ability to handle ten pounds of batter at a time. A visiting Michigan business student, waiting for a fresh batch of browniesto be ready, noted that the mixer is only partially used at 60% of capacity (6 pound batch / 10 pounds ) at any time. He recommends mixing a full batch of ten pounds to reduce the waiting time. What do you say?

5. Based on your analysis in #3, make a recommendation as to what action(s) or process improvement needs to be taken FIRST. (If no action is needed,state this with the reasoning.)

6. From the Customer Experience data, use Q2010.xlsx to determine what must the Service Rate be, measured per hour, in order to limit the time in Queue to exactly 15 minutes? Include your Q2010.elosx file printout (Caution- Specify Page 1 only when printing!) and highlight or write in your answer.

BONUS: Which offer should the company accept for new business and why? SHOW YOUR WORK

Information related to above question is enclosed below:

Attachment:- Case1-SP18-BuckeyeBrownies.rar