National Cranberry Cooperative Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Introduction:

The National Cranberry Cooperative was a business designed and possessed by cultivators of cranberries to process and promote their berries. NCC was one of the largest organizations and had set-up in all the majordevelopingregions of North America. Being a leader in the fruit industry, the management of the company is planning to make some changes in the operations specifically in the process of cranberries. The management believed it was high time to make necessary changes that in turn will increase the productivity and level of effectiveness and efficiency in the overall operations of the company.

national cranberry cooperative case solution

The overall process through which berries enter into the plant, move and then exit the RP1 can be made efficient through making slight modifications the process of the operations as a whole. By making such modifications, the company would be able to decrease the overtime cost that has become very expensive for the company. By making reductions in the overtime, the company would be able to decrease the overall waiting time for the trucks supply. Making all these strategies implemented, will help the company to increase the efficiency of the plant and the process will be done in standard business hours with an increase in the profitability of the company as a whole.

Issues identification:

One of the prime problems faced by the company was the extra waiting time for trucks that was entirely a waste of time. The major reason behind this issue was the absence of a proper schedule for the trucks as mentioned in the case that the trucks came anytime in a day. Further, time taken to back trucks onto a Kiwanna dumper was nearly 10 minutes approximately. This includes emptying the trucks and leaving the platform. Many times trucks have to wait for more than three hours to unload it and go for the next round. The prime reason behind this waiting time is when the holding bins are full and failed to hold more berries in it. Lack of temporary storing facility becomes a bottleneck for the company to further proceed with the operations.

The next issue faced by the operations department of the company was the overtime issue. The issue has become more enhanced from the month of September till the month of October. These months are known to be the peak season of the company and because of this, employees in the plant are required in a greater number i.e. 53. During the normal timings that is from November till august, the workers required in the plant are 27 that almost doubled in the peak season. The company has already hired additional workers for this purpose, but still failed to meet the demand because the absenteeism rate is very high in the company that in turn increase the overall cost of the process. Further, extra workers are required in the crowning season because there is a high probability of getting wet cranberries damaged and spoiled.

Other than these, the company has a shortage of rooms to make their water reaped berries properly processed. As mentioned in the case that there was an increasing trend in the mechanization of cranberries which consist of filling fens with water and shaken it perfunctorily to separate the berries from the bushes. By doing this, berries become separated from the bushes and floated to the surface of water. The new mechanical way upsurge the return of the overall process by more than 20%, but affect the life of cranberries. As this method is becoming increasingly popular, the company needs to focus on increasing the room capacity as predicted, that the wet berries will be 70% of the company’s overall production

Analysis:

In order to make improvements in the scheduling of the process, the company needs to take some measures regarding the delivery time of the trucks along with the amount of cranberries that needs to be delivered. To warrant that the waiting time is decreased, the company needs to make evener schedule. The company needs to set a minimum acceptable weight so that quantities of trucks that are required can be identified that in turn will reduce the overall waiting time of the process.National Cranberry Cooperative Harvard Case Solution & Analysis Case Solution

As far as the issue of absenteeism is concerned, it is directly related to the payroll of employees working in a plant. In order to motivate the existing employees and to attract new ones, the management of the company needs to find an optimal level of pay or extra wages. This strategy can be implemented during the highest selling months that in turn will attract more people to work for the company. In this way, the company will be able to decrease the level of absenteeism to some extent.

As mentioned above, the company is in shortage of rooms to make their water reaped berries harvested properly, thus making....................

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Requires analysis and manufacturing processes and production management system used to obtain the cranberry plant. Rewritten version of the previous case. "Hide
by Jeffrey J. Miller, R. Paul Olsen Source: HBS Premier Case Collection 11 pages. Publication Date: August 1, 1974. Prod. #: 675014-PDF-ENG