Wriston Manufacturing
To: Richard Sullivan, Vice President, Heavy Equipment Division, WMC
Subject: Wriston Manufacturing Corporation
Date: May 1, 2012
Thank you for the opportunity to work with Wriston Manufacturing Corporation (WMC), it has been both a rewarding and insightful experience. As requested, an evaluation has been conducted to assess and identify the key areas of strength and weakness and to provide an external perspective into possible opportunities for corporate advancement. Based on our analysis, the following overarching themes are notable:
* The Detroit plant operates as a unique entity compared to the other plants in the Heavy Equipment Division (HED), resulting in an observable product-process mismatch * Disproportionate financial comparison have resulted in diminished capital investment in the Detroit plant; skewing cumulative valuation analysis and true cross-plant benefit
Observations and Analysis
Operationally, the Detroit plants is manufacturing products at low-volume and with significant diversity in regards to product type. This increased complexity and variability equates to a ‘job shop’ environment, as opposed to a ‘flow shop’; which is the manner in which most counterpart plants are operating. The Detroit plant is unique in that it is not only manufacturing all three product lines, making it very complex, but the lack of corporate support has led to significant demoralization of human resources, which is having a tangible impact and strain on ongoing production. Due to the diverse product range, but inversely beneficial low production quantity, Detroit is unable to leverage economies of scale; also contributing to large overhead costs. Unpredictability and erraticism in production-need do not appear conducive to the innovation and streamlining initiatives consistent with corporate strategy. The lack of support, financial and operational, appears to have diminished capital investment, resulting in the retention of longstanding and
Subject: Wriston Manufacturing Corporation
Date: May 1, 2012
Thank you for the opportunity to work with Wriston Manufacturing Corporation (WMC), it has been both a rewarding and insightful experience. As requested, an evaluation has been conducted to assess and identify the key areas of strength and weakness and to provide an external perspective into possible opportunities for corporate advancement. Based on our analysis, the following overarching themes are notable:
* The Detroit plant operates as a unique entity compared to the other plants in the Heavy Equipment Division (HED), resulting in an observable product-process mismatch * Disproportionate financial comparison have resulted in diminished capital investment in the Detroit plant; skewing cumulative valuation analysis and true cross-plant benefit
Observations and Analysis
Operationally, the Detroit plants is manufacturing products at low-volume and with significant diversity in regards to product type. This increased complexity and variability equates to a ‘job shop’ environment, as opposed to a ‘flow shop’; which is the manner in which most counterpart plants are operating. The Detroit plant is unique in that it is not only manufacturing all three product lines, making it very complex, but the lack of corporate support has led to significant demoralization of human resources, which is having a tangible impact and strain on ongoing production. Due to the diverse product range, but inversely beneficial low production quantity, Detroit is unable to leverage economies of scale; also contributing to large overhead costs. Unpredictability and erraticism in production-need do not appear conducive to the innovation and streamlining initiatives consistent with corporate strategy. The lack of support, financial and operational, appears to have diminished capital investment, resulting in the retention of longstanding and
References: Wriston Manufacturing Corporation. (1997, December 1). Harvard Business School, Case No. 9-698-049. Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA. Appendix A