Scenario: Internal Process Improvement Initiative

The VP of Operations has concluded that the forecasting and material ordering function of your company is wasteful and highly inefficient. The VP assesses that too many manual steps exist in the sales activities and the materials planning, order placement, and fulfillment processes. You have been assigned to a team to perform research and benchmarking of the complete sales process and to make recommendations about any changes that can be implemented.

Consider the following questions:

1. Are you carrying out the assigned case scenario as a fictitious company? Or, are you going to select a company that aligns well with your assigned case, and use the company as a source of information to aid in our research?
2. What challenges are you as a team likely to face in this research? How feasible is the research you plan and what issues or constraints should be communicated to the company executive requesting this research?