Herman Manufacturing has been having many difficulties. This company manufactures caps and gowns used for graduation ceremonies in both high schools and colleges. Most of the company’s problems have revolved around its inability to generate sufficient sales to maintain overall profitability. The president of the company, Barbara Novel, feels that this situation has been caused by poor relations between the company and its customers. Barbara has confided in some of the company’s major customers about this matter, and they have advised her that they are very happy with the quality of the company’s products. However, they mentioned a number of problems. Among the problems given were late deliveries and incomplete orders. Further discussion with some of the company’s production employees has revealed that a wide range of production problems exist, including
(i) Low- quality raw materials
(ii) Bottlenecks in production due to a general lack of coordination in job scheduling
(iii) Mix- ups in customer’s orders.
You have been called in as an independent consultant and have been asked to advise Barbara Novel.

Required
a. Where do you begin dealing with this company’s problem?
b. What type of systems analysis techniques would be useful in this situation?