British Columbia Box Case Analysis free essay sample

Bcb Case Case analysis on British Columbia Box Limited (Revised) (A B2B Analysis) This case study involves a purchase decision to be made by the plant manager of Columbia Box Limited Vancouver regarding machine, flexo folder gluer. The BCB is part of an international company which specialized in packages of all types and the main product of the Vancouver plant was folded carton for consumer goods. The flexo folder gluer would combine printing with folding and gluing operations. The need arose because the existing machine was more than 18 years old and needed frequent repairs. The plant manager was contemplating a new purchase or up gradation of the old machine. Purchasing the new machine would cost half a million dollar but the sales volume did not justify this expenditure. Hence the plant manager had to make a choice between up gradation and purchase. Each decision had its own positives and negatives. We will write a custom essay sample on British Columbia Box Case Analysis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The purchase would require an investment of half a million dollar but would increase the productivity, whereas the up gradation would not be capital The plant manager and the sales manager were developing a five year plan which included a significant plant expansion. The sales manager had assured Flynn of generating an additional million dollar sale if a flexo gluer of a larger size was available. Hence Flynn decided that this would justify the capital investment and went ahead with the purchase decision. There were other advantages of purchase over up gradation such as decreased set up time, less waste, less supervision and a higher quality product. Suppliers After much contemplation, various field visit, cost comparison, product feature comparison Flynn zeroed in on two suppliers Bale and Andrews. Decision making: Flynn had now had to decide between the two suppliers taking into account the various advantages and disadvantages of the machines provided by these suppliers. Bale Advantages: †¢ Bale has offered free installation and has more experience in numerical controlled functions. †¢ Bale is figured in Boxboard container journal and TAPPI conference which leads to better positioning. †¢ Bale final bid was lower than Andrews by $20,000. Bale Disadvantage: †¢ Low capacity feeder. Bale washup has a reputation of â€Å"less than 100 percent† mark. †¢ There is already a negative feedback of the existing Bale die cutter. †¢ The machine that was already installed at BCB, Georgia wasn’t functioning well when the top management went for a last minute performance review. †¢ No personal training is given in case of technology failure. Andrews Advantage: †¢ The Vacuum feed and ink wash-up system was better than Bale. †¢ In spite of Andrews being charging an extra cost of $20,000, they are giving extra 8 features. Andrews CNC machines adjustments can be done at office located on the outskirts of Vancouver. †¢ External factors like the statement by Archie, the factory superintendent saying that he’ll get the Andrews’ machine running proves the fact that Andrews’ was successful in creating as well as completing a successful value chain by communicating its value proposition at a much broader level than Bale Company. †¢ Installation as well as training personnel would be free, thus saving more money for BCB in the long run. Overall reduction in price for Andrews was greater. ($535000 to $510000 ie $25000 ). Andrews Disadvantage: †¢ Higher final price. †¢ The extra features give no surety for BCB usefulness. †¢ Bale’s matrix display is better than Andrews dual scan. †¢ Lack on the trust factor. †¢ More reluctant to slash prices as it was a new task with modifications to add value to the existing machinery. Vendor Analysis: Bale: o Andrews: * |Attributes Rating Scales | | |Imp weights |Poor(1) |Fair(2) |Good(3) |Excellent(4) | |Supplier Reputation |0. 2 | |* |o | | Product Reliability |0. 3 | |o |* | | |Service Reliability |0. 1 | |o | |* | |Supplier flexibility |0. 1 | |o |* | | |Price |0. 3 | |* |o | | Total Score for bale: 3(0. 2)+2(0. 3)+2(0. 1)+2(0. 1)+3(0. 3)= 2. 5 Total Score for Andrews: 2(0. 2)+3(0. 3)+4(0. 1)+3(0. 1)+2(0. 3)= 2. 6 Final Decision: On the basis of Price, Supplier flexibility, Service reliability, Product Reliability and Supplier Reputation and considering above advantages and disadvantages and the vendor analysis, we as a group consider Andrews to be the better choice for BCB.