The general nature of the funeral business is to some degree incredibly uncertain. There is no guaranteed way of forecasting future work as there is no guarantee that death rates in the area will remain the same year on year due to various factors e. g. general health in the area, local disasters, poverty rates etc. For the purpose of this report the focus will not be on the funeral business as a whole but on one area of sales – monumental masonry.
The nature of customer demand – volume, variety and uncertainty Month on month the monumental masonry side of the business will complete, on average, 40 monumental orders – 75% of this work will be new work that has come from funerals that the business has recently completed and 25% of the work will be in the form of ongoing maintenance of past monumental work, such as cleaning (see appendix 1).
In terms of volume of sales the majority of the work is dependent on the number of funerals completed each month, however it does make up the majority of sales month on month. Variety of sales can be divided, basically, into three sections: New monumental work – new headstones, vases and plaques Additional inscriptions – lettering added to an existing monumental Ongoing maintenance – cleaning monument’s, re-fixing, fixing general damage.
Due to monumental sales coming mainly from funerals completed by the company there is a degree of uncertainty in the number of orders that will be made each month which makes it difficult to forecast for the future. However there is a yearly trend whereby December has always been a notoriously busy month as it appears that many people wish decide to have monumental work undertaken and generally completed in time for Christmas (see appendix 2).
School Facilities Work On The Weekend
Students on the NC State campus are not allowed to have access to the gym and music center facilities at peak hours of boredom during the weekend. During the week while the student's are hurrying to and from classes, they are busy, hard working, and tired of the stress that comes along with balancing academics in college. When the weekend comes around, everyone should be allowed to have a way to ...
WORD COUNT: 302 B) Management approaches to anticipate demand, make capacity plans and control supply
As outlined above, due to a degree of uncertainty that is the nature of the business, the only way in which future supply needs can be predicted is by use of historical data, therefore the company runs the monumental masonry as a purchase to order business whereby the majority of raw materials will not be ordered until a confirmed order is received. Basic supplies such as gold leaf for the inscriptions and adhesives are constantly restocked and there are always the most popular headstones/vases/plaques kept on stock (10 of each) in anticipation of an influx of possible high demand, particularly during the busier months, such as December.
There is a master production schedule in place for all monumental orders (see appendix 3) spanning from the time of order to the completed order, however the timings are entirely approximated and can differ greatly depending upon the size of each individual order, where the completed order will be situated and if any specialist materials need to be bought in. Customers expect a certain waiting time on confirmed orders as each order is personalised and cannot possibly be made prior to the order being taken.
Slack et tal (2007) define capacity as “The maximum level of value added activity that an operation, or process, or facility is capable of over a period of time”, in terms of the monumental masonry of R. Banks & Son this would mean the amount of materials that can physically be kept on stock, how many orders can be processed daily and how quickly these orders can be fixed in place in the cemetery/churchyard.
Throughout the year monumental orders are only physically passed over to the masons for completion approximately one week prior to the estimated completion date. Prior to this the work is held by the monumental manager, after being passed on by the monumental sales, who will assess what materials are required, order whatever is necessary and assess how long the order will take to complete (see appendix 3).
The Essay on Laws Of Supply And Demand
Your author has been given the responsibility of completing the demand and supply simulation and then discussing his thoughts on several questions presented before him. These questions deal heavily on microeconomics and macroeconomics with regards to managing approximately 3000 two bedroom apartments and their rentals. Your author will now address the questions as they were presented before him. ...
It is the task of the monumental manager to control how much work is
passed over to the masons so that work can be completed in order of priority and always ensuring that they are not overloaded (it is essential that the masons do not get overloaded with work as this could lead to mistakes being made and lowering the quality of goods provided, which in turn leads to the whole production line slowing down, mistakes being rectified and the cost of production will rise as more time is taken and more raw materials being used than has been anticipated).
This generally works by use of medium term capacity planning whereby using historical data and current number of funerals to be carried out the manager can somewhat anticipate the demand and therefore ensure that current work is completed in time so that there will not be a back log of orders. However due to fluctuations in demand short term capacity adjustments will sometimes have to be made to ensure that work is carried out at a quicker rate in during the busier periods (in this case December).
When fluctuations in demand occur to a level that the business cannot cope with then the work will be sub-contracted to another business to help cope with said demand. This also helps in keeping the costs of staff down, momentary fluctuations in demand will not require the use of extra/temporary staff if the work can be completed elsewhere to the same standard of quality. The weather can create problems in terms of fixing monuments in the required cemetery/churchyard, particularly during the winter months.
Therefore it is expected that if the weather has been particularly bad on some days and the process of fixing monuments could not be completed then on the days when the weather is fine then priority must be made for said monuments. Work can and will be subcontracted if the need arises as the wants of the customer will take priority. Stock control within the business mostly depends upon the type of monumental orders placed.
The Term Paper on The Relationship Between Business Ethics and Customer Relations
The relationship between business ethics and customer relations lies in the manner in which the management of various businesses apply the principles of ethics in their interaction with customers. As such, business ethics and customer relations may apply to the way in which a business conveys its products and services to customers and the manner in which it handles customer complaints. It also ...
In the case of work such as additional inscriptions and ongoing maintenance where materials such as gold leaf and adhesives are used the business uses the theory of economic order quantity whereby quantity of materials ordered monthly is based upon the steady demand of orders. As the items are not perishable it can be stored in a relatively small space if not used on a monthly basis. Obviously if there are materials unused from one month to the next then it will not be reordered the next month.
In the case of new monumental orders it depends entirely on what monument has been ordered and if it is on stock. The most common headstones/vases/plaques are kept on stock to a maximum of 10, at the end of each month the monumental manager will complete a stock take of monuments and replace the number used. For other monuments displayed in the brochure that are not common then the individual orders will be placed for each item and the operation uses the Just In Time approach to complete the orders. This reduces the cost of storage and cost of stock held.
In terms of waiting times for monuments to be delivered to the business this again depends on the type of monument that has been ordered and is reflected in the waiting time for the customer. For example a standard 8”x8” black polished vase would typically take four weeks from point of order to delivery to the company, however a more complex order such as a 2’6 all polished lavender blue headstone would typically take 10 weeks delivery to the business (see appendix 4 for standard delivery times of all items).
WORD COUNT: 969 C) Summary
The key findings of the report indicates that planning and control is based mainly upon confirmed customer orders and historical data with little use of forecasts as the nature of the business makes this extremely difficult. This is a somewhat common theme across the board for monumental masons within the area and works well to some degree (see appendix 5).
The main consequence that could occur in using this method is if at some point in the operation the raw materials are held up in some way, for example if the monumental manager forgot to order the stock and therefore held up the process.
The Business plan on Work Order Business Insurance Cleaning
Today's workers and families are overworked and stressed. After working through a 9-to-5 job, feeding and putting the children to bed, the last thing anyone wants to worry about is cleaning the house. Weekends are spent running errands and spending quality time with friends and family members. Therefore, many families are looking for outside assistance with housekeeping. In the past, housekeepers ...
This then has a knock on effect to the customer as they will have to wait longer for their order to be completed and therefore creating a bad image of the business to said customer. Obviously situations such as bad weather that are out of the businesses control can hold up orders for customers but the business does everything within its power to complete the work as soon as possible, even if sub-contracting has to take place as the customers needs are of the utmost importance.
