The financial department of Snyders of Hanover, a company that sells pretzels, snack chips, and organic snack items, used to rely on spreadsheets and manual processes for their data gathering and reporting. Every month, the financial analyst would spend the entire final week collecting spreadsheets from over 50 global departments. Afterward, the data would be consolidated and re-entered into another spreadsheet, which served as the company’s monthly profit-and-loss statement.
If a department wanted to update its data after submitting the spreadsheet to the main office, they had to return the original spreadsheet and wait for the department to re-submit their data. Only then could the updated data be submitted in the consolidated document. This situation has implications for business performance and management decision making. Manual data gathering and reporting processes can have a negative impact on the business due to the possibility of human errors in data entry.
The process of updating data in the profit and loss statements is time-consuming because some departments request updates after submitting the data. In these cases, the analyst must send the original copy and wait for it to be completed before entering it into the final document. Additionally, collecting data from fifty headquarters and entering it into a spreadsheet does not provide specific information on the performance of individual business branches. This lack of detailed information can negatively impact the business and result in losses in some branches.
The business should implement software to analyze the performance of each branch more closely. If a branch consistently makes mistakes in their reports, the responsible department head should be addressed.
2. Achieving Operational Excellence: Utilizing Internet Tools for Budgeting Shipping Costs. You are the shipper of a small firm that prints, binds, and ships popular books for a midlevel publisher. Our production facilities are in Albany, New York (ZIP code 12250). The warehouses of our customers are located in Irving, Texas (75015) and Portland, Oregon (97202).
The production facility operates for 250 days per year. The books are usually shipped in packages weighing 45 pounds and measuring 9 inches in height, 13 inches in length, and 17 inches in width. On an average day, the company sends four boxes to each warehouse. The objective is to compare shippers like FedEx (www.fedex.com), UPS (www.ups.com), and the U.S. Postal Service (www.usps.gov) to select the best one for your company. Consider costs, delivery speed, pickup schedules, drop-off locations, tracking ability, and website user-friendliness when making a decision.
After assessing three shipping companies, I have opted for USPS (United States Postal Services) as my preferred service. In comparison to the other two companies, USPS provides a range of advantages. Their website is user-friendly and offers comprehensive information about their services. Additionally, their prices are more affordable than the alternatives.
For my business, it has been determined that shipping with USPS will amount to $1,666.00 and they can handle the weight of my shipment. However, FedEx has weight limitations of 20 lbs or 9.7 kg, which falls short for my products.
FedEx also mandates membership in order to access information from their website. Conversely, UPS (United Postal Service) not only possesses longer delivery times but also an unwelcoming website.
If I were to ship with UPS from Albany to Texas, it would cost me $2,074.16; thus making their service pricier compared to USPS.
