cottrill case study
INTRODUCTION:
Judy Stevens, purchasing supervisor at the Cottrill Inc. plant in Columbus had to take a decision whether she wanted to change cottrill’s paging service from its current supplier Tallant to Saxton Wireless or wanted to remain with Tallant. She had to finalize her decision in few hours.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Cottrill was established in the mid-1800s and was the one of the largest corn refining operations in North America. The company operated six wet-milling plants, four in the United States and two in Canada.
The Columbus plant had been operating for over 20 years and employed more than 100 people. Cottrill’s purchasing department had to ensure that the plant ran efficiently and was responsible for replenishing a variety of supplies at the plant, ranging from chemicals to communications equipment. A current initiative for Cottrill, and particularly for the purchasing department, was reducing the level of working capital. This had been a focus in the purchasing department for over two years, and the departmental target was an annual decrease of $300,000.
The majority of Cottrill’s products were manufactured through a continuous flow process. Therefore, downtime at the Columbus plant was extremely costly and was estimated at $200,000 per hour. In an attempt to minimize plant downtime, management implemented an automated software program and an electronic pager system 12 years ago. The software program, called Production Messaging, monitored Cottrill’s equipment. The plant had a total of 20 pagers, and this number included a variety of different models.
SPECIFIC PROBLEM:
Several recent events had caused Judy to become dissatisfied with the current arrangement with Tallant. In June, Judy contacted Tallant with a routine request to replace a broken pager. Judy was dissatisfied with Tallant’s service, feeling that she spent too much time on the phone arranging the order and it took Tallant over a month to send out the replacement pager.
Judy
Judy Stevens, purchasing supervisor at the Cottrill Inc. plant in Columbus had to take a decision whether she wanted to change cottrill’s paging service from its current supplier Tallant to Saxton Wireless or wanted to remain with Tallant. She had to finalize her decision in few hours.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Cottrill was established in the mid-1800s and was the one of the largest corn refining operations in North America. The company operated six wet-milling plants, four in the United States and two in Canada.
The Columbus plant had been operating for over 20 years and employed more than 100 people. Cottrill’s purchasing department had to ensure that the plant ran efficiently and was responsible for replenishing a variety of supplies at the plant, ranging from chemicals to communications equipment. A current initiative for Cottrill, and particularly for the purchasing department, was reducing the level of working capital. This had been a focus in the purchasing department for over two years, and the departmental target was an annual decrease of $300,000.
The majority of Cottrill’s products were manufactured through a continuous flow process. Therefore, downtime at the Columbus plant was extremely costly and was estimated at $200,000 per hour. In an attempt to minimize plant downtime, management implemented an automated software program and an electronic pager system 12 years ago. The software program, called Production Messaging, monitored Cottrill’s equipment. The plant had a total of 20 pagers, and this number included a variety of different models.
SPECIFIC PROBLEM:
Several recent events had caused Judy to become dissatisfied with the current arrangement with Tallant. In June, Judy contacted Tallant with a routine request to replace a broken pager. Judy was dissatisfied with Tallant’s service, feeling that she spent too much time on the phone arranging the order and it took Tallant over a month to send out the replacement pager.
Judy