Case Study: Williams Ltd

Williams Ltd manufactures iron gates to individual customers' specifications. The company use the tender process to obtain work, where the company responds to an invitation to submit a competitive bid. Over the last few months, Williams Ltd. has been very quiet, and the managing director, Jack Jones, is concerned that the business will fail if it does not improve its success rate with tenders. The company has two production departments, Bending and Welding, and the production requirements for individual jobs can differ significantly. Some jobs require extensive bending with little welding; others require little bending with a lot of welding.

The following table describes the results of the five bids that the company submitted last month. The numbers in brackets after losses indicate where the company ranked in the bid process:

1 Job Direct labour Direct labour Estimated Overhead no. hours in hours in direct labour cost of bid Won/lost Bending Welding hours 1 1,200 300 1,500 $4,125 Lost (5:?) 2 300 1,200 1,500 $4,125 Won 3 1,400 100 1,500 $4,125 Lost (31") 4 100 1,400 1,500 $4,125 Won 5 750 750 1,500 $4,125 Lost (21\")