The toy industry is very fickle and innovation is critical. Sales for January 2016 showed only a 3% rise over January 2015 leaving the company managers concerned about meeting projected sales targets for 2016. In a 30-month plan, George Jepson, Jr., as CEO, together with Edward Mercury, CFO, set long-term goals for the company to include the following:

increase sales unrelated to NASA toys by 22 percent;

reduce company-wide costs by 5 percent within 15 months and 11.2 percent by the end of the plan;

create new technology based action toys;

use innovative technology in production to increase efficiency;

reduce carbon footprint by 5 percent.

In November 2015, the long term planning team began to select the newest Galaxy product line. The choice of the right product design will hopefully stop the slump in sales and jump start growth. Tomorrow, February 4, 2016 is the final meeting of the planning team. The team will choose between three options:

produce 1 million Payload Nine toys or MMTJE1 for Christmas 2016;

produce 1 million Payload Nine toys for Christmas 2016 and 1 million MMTJE1 for Christmas 2017;

produce 1.5 million MMTJE1 toys for Christmas 2017.

The products have different production requirements.  Payload Nine is designed to complement the International NASA Space Station series.  Payload Nine is geared to the 7-10 age group and contains building blocks to make the space shuttle with emphasis on the cargo hold and its loading arm.

Focus group results suggest that Payload Nine will sell well but it is not a “wow” product in the eyes of the group. It is not a trendsetting toy. The introduction of Payload Nine is estimated to jump NASA sales by 6.8%. Payload Nine requires little change on the production floor and supplies are easily obtainable. Production could begin May 1, 2016 and completed in time for the Christmas toy market. No additional personnel would be needed and existing production would not be delayed. Production costs would fit within the current year’s budget.

The other project “Moon Mission to Jupiter’s Europa” (MMTJE1) is a 3D engineered of the Curiosity vehicle used to. explore Mars. The toy is operated remotely allowing a child and parent to launch the capsule “Juno 1” craft, 500 ft. in the air, unload the rover called Galileo and move it along all terrain surfaces.  Galileo takes pictures remotely and sends them to a cell phone. The toy is geared for the age 11-15 market but can be used with younger children as long as there is adult supervision. The toy is made from a 3D printer and consists of a plastic capsule and rover base with electronics added separately in production. [Not sure what 3D printing is, view http://3dprinting.com/what-is-3d-printing/]

Focus group results suggest that it is a “wow” product and would also encourage sales of related toys and books as Jupiter’s Moon Europa has been deemed by scientists as the most accessible and likely place to support habitable life as we know it to be. Children can view pictures and imagine a Moon currently covered in ice as a new space frontier adventure. An interactive video game is also envisioned. It will also be the first intergalactic action toy that Galaxy Toys has ever produced.  MMTJE1 is estimated to bring a 15% increase in unrelated NASA sales if rolled out in 2016 and 21.6% increase if rolled out in 2017. However, MMTJE1 is not production-friendly at this point.

The new production equipment, electronics, computer programming and trained personnel would not see production beginning before November of 2016. Anticipated budget costs of $450,000 necessitating a budget increase of $300,000 over all five plants would be needed. In order to meet the October deadline for Christmas 2016 sales additional manpower would be needed with a cost increase of 20% over the projected $450,000 budget costs. In addition, the push would necessitate significant rescheduling of current production and likely require factory workers to put in overtime. Finally, the rush would be predicated on the assumption that production problems would not occur.

The Board of Directors has decided to accept the recommendation to roll out the “Moon Mission to Jupiter’s Europa 1” for the holiday season of 2017. In a virtual meeting, led by Itza Yu, the production managers have had a “brainstorming” session and have created a list of short-term goals and objectives.

In reviewing the list, Itza Yu noted that some of the items on the list are sound short-term goals and objectives while others are not and therefore, should be removed. He also noted that some of the items do not fit well with the company’s vision and mission and will need to be eliminated.

Assuming the role of Itza Yu, students must determine whether the items on the list are “goals” or “objectives” and whether they should be adopted or abandoned. The list is as follows:

Short Term Goals and Objectives List

Production of quality MMTJE1 toys must start February 20th, 2017.

Production of quality MMTJE1 toys must start by July 1, 2017.

Dates for starting production set.

Completion dates for new personnel hire set.

MMTJE1 quality toys production.

Additional personnel must be hired by February 20th 2017.

Materials must be state of the art.

Completion dates for material purchase and delivery set.

3D printers must be purchased by February 20th, 2017.

3D printers must be purchased and installed by November 1, 2016

The first MMTJE1 toys should be produced by December 1, 2016.

QC should evaluate first toys by December 31, 2016.

Completion dates for QC standards will be determined by QC.

Safety standards should be determined by QC by May 1, 2016.

Materials must be purchased by and delivered by July 1, 2016.

New packages should be palletized by May 1, 2017.

Personnel for all production functions must be organized by March 31, 2016.

Shipping should begin immediately upon the nod from Quality Control.

Shipping should begin July 1, 2017.

Shipping start dates should be determined.

IT must confirm programming for 3D printers is complete by June 1, 2016.

3D machine operators must be trained by October 31, 2016.

Completion dates for 3D programming, training and installation set.

Maintenance for 3D printers must be done daily.

Personnel must be cross trained on the 3D printers.

Training on new equipment must be done by October 31, 2016.

Marketing will determine shipping start date.

Dates for personnel hire set.

Required Elements for Part Two:

From the list above, should generate three lists. The first list should be a selection of “appropriate” short-term goals. The second list should be a selection of “appropriate” objectives. The third list should be those other goals and objectives that have been abandoned.

In completing this task, demonstrate their understand of the difference between “goals” and “objectives” and their choices should reflect this understanding.

Moreover, required to clearly explain their reasoning for the selection (of certain goals and objectives) and the abandonment of others. This analysis will be very helpful to Keith Wisternick and the Board of Directors of Galaxy Toys, Inc.