Looking for some good ideas for putting this together; Mission one is due next week. You will be isolating specific parts of the data set to analyze. Then you will identify the inefficiencies in operational processes. An essential first step is to decide what part of the data set you need to isolate. This segment's discussion asks you to decide on the kinds of data required to make business decisions involving a specific business process. For your preliminary column, consider the scenario in the final mission. I Choose one part of the process ( I choose production, sales, or transportation) and discuss what data you would need to analyze to inform business decisions and why. In response to your peers, choose those who analyzed a different part of the process. Do you agree with your peers' thoughts? Is there other data that could be used? Note: You will be able to see your peers' posts once you make your initial post. Vinho Winery Scenario

The Vinho Winery in Lodi, California, produces about one million cases of wine annually. They sell their wine wholesale to four independent wine distributors in Riverside, CA; Oakland, CA; Portland, OR; and Seattle, WA. Vinho Winery produces three varieties of wine: Ruby Red, Murky White, and Whole-Earth Organic. They use different grapes to make the three varieties. Their production volumes (increased by grapes bought from other growers) must be planned for at least a year of being pressed into wine. The wine must be aged a year before being sold.

Vinho Winery advertises its wines in the areas surrounding its four independent wine distributors. The cost of this marketing is included in the wine production costs. Vinho has a contract with a private trucking company to move full truckloads of wine. A full truck will carry 24 pallets of wine, totaling 2,688 cases (16,128 bottles). The minimum shipment they will sell is a pallet of wine (112 points). They contract out delivery of the pallets unless the cost rises higher than the cost of using one of their private trucking company's trucks. Vinho has brokers arrange cargo to be carried on the return trip (backhaul) to avoid their trucks returning empty, resulting in needing to pay for the round trip. Little Lodi is not a significant transportation destination, so only part of the return trip can be used. (For example, the return from Seattle can be used to move cargo from Seattle to Eureka but not Lodi.)

A private equity firm recently bought Vinho Winery. They want an assessment of current operations. Once that is complete, they want plans to optimize operations. You are the management consultant conducting the evaluation and developing the projects. You will need to build and program spreadsheets for your analysis, then write summary statements.

You do more research on wine production and realize that it takes 3.5 pounds of grapes to make a bottle of wine. In addition, you know the price per bottle that the distributors are paying for each variety of wine:

Price for Red Wine ($) Price for White Wine ($) Price for Organic Wine ($) 7.50 8.00 12.00

You discuss wine production with the operations manager. You learn that the wineries that supply the grapes to produce the above types of wine can have up to 200,000 pounds of grapes for a six-month supply of wine bottles for the three markets. The following are the expected distribution constraints based on the types of grapes. Note that current market needs will not support more than the below constraints for each class:

Red Wine Ceiling 22,000 bottles White Wine Ceiling 24,000 bottles Organic Wine Ceiling 12,000 bottles

The production cost per bottle stays the same as before. So, the percentages of sales or revenue are 32% for red wine, 42.5% for white wine, and 52.5% for organic wine. You have gathered this additional information and are ready to determine the optimum product mix to maximize profit.