Understanding the business for Ice house toys and how they can take call on present operational challenges they are facing.

1. Ice House Toys
Case Study Analysis – Group 21
PRN08_Akshita Manwati
PRN73_Tabassum Irfan
PRN99_Harender Singh
PRN100_Indrajeet Hulyalkar
PRN114_Mayank Kumar

2. Ice House Toys - Background
1962
Company was created with 5
physical shops in Bristol
1999
5 profitable gift shops and
one catalogue (mail-order)
service.
The case study is based in
this timeline.
1981
They acquired the warehouse
Ice house in Bristol which
was cheap and easy to find.
That is where the name came
from.

3. Ice House Toys - Overview
Customer Base
Loyal Customer
Base
Operation
Five profitable toys
shops and catalogue
sales (mail-order)
business
Source of Revenue
Most of the revenue is
obtained over the
Christmas period
Christmas Period
Average sales of
22,600 orders over
Christmas,
Avg. Price - €42
Winter & Spring Sale
Average sales of 6,900
orders over winter &
spring sale€23 Avg.
Price

4. Layout of IHT
2L
Used to track mail-order and recording
Office
1L
Used to stock mail-orders
Mail-Order Stockroom
3
GL
Packing room for mail-order operation
Packing Room
2R
Used to stock mail-orders
Mail-Order Stockroom
1R
Used to stock mail-orders
Mail-Order Stockroom
3
GR Store stocks for the company’s shops
From Sep’2000 - mail order operations
Store
 Each working area is 600 squares meters.
 Ceiling Height was restricted.

5. IHT Process Chart
Receiving Orders
3 mail order catalogue-
300 different toys
Recording Collection Packing Dispatch
Recording
7 employees,
7hr/day
22orders/hr
Records the order to
computer and picking
list is generated
The collector collect
the item in the list
Rectify error and pack
Item in suitable box
Parcel is sent to
dispatch
Collector
3 Collectors,
20 odr/45 min
Packer
1 packers
4.3 parcel/hr
Dispatch
9.5 odr/hr,
req 30 sq mt

6. Issues and Challenges with IHT
Cost of stock, Packaging
Materials, Carriage - to
be minimized .
Cost Management
Issues &
Challenges
OTD- 3 days delivery policy
will become a challenge
with future expansion plan
Delivery
Complex , Inefficient
and Timely operation
sequence
Bottlenecks in flow
Expansion of business
was an issue for IHT
Business Expansion
Poor Inventory
management
Warehouse
Limited customer base
and they are targeting
only existing customers
Limited Customer 3
2
1
6
5 4

7. Bottleneck in IHT
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
Recording Collection Packing Dispatch
Mins/order takt time
Process Operator Order/
Per HR
Hrs/day Total
order/hr
Orders/5
day
Recording 7 22 7 154 5390
Collector 3 26.7 9 80.1 3600
Packing 16 4.3 9 68.8 3096
Dispatch 9 9.5 9 85.5 3848
Kaizen required
here

8. Business Strategies for Improvement
Costing
Optimise
• Cost of labour
• Cost of
Delivery
To attain
maximum output
Speed
Development
• Online ordering
system
• Enhancing
overall process
Resources
Utilisation
Maximise
Reducing the idle
time of the
resources
Depend-
ability
Dispatch
Policy
IHT have a 3 days
policy for delivery
with expansion it
can become a
burden
Winning
Orders
Focus on
• Product Range
• Fast delivery

9. Resource Utilisation – Targeting zero wastage
Process
Recording
Reducing the
operators from 7
to 5 such that we
will reduce the
wastage of
human resource
Collection
No improvement
required as the
weekly
recordings are
3605
Packaging
To improve the
orders/week, we
need 3 additional
workers to bridge
the bottleneck.
Dispatch
No improvement
required as the
weekly
recordings are
3605
Process Operator Orders/5day Suggested
Operators
New
Order/week
Recording 7 5390 5 3850
Collector 3 3600 3 3600
Packing 16 3096 19 3696
Dispatch 9 3848 9 3848

10. Improvement in Layout –
effective utilisation of space
 Each working area is 600 squares meters.
 Ceiling Height was restricted.
2L
Office
1L
Mail-Order Stockroom
3
GL
Packing Room
2R Mail-Order Stockroom
1R Mail-Order Stockroom
3
GR Store
2L
Office/Stockroom
1L
Mail-Order Stockroom
3
GL
Packing Room
2R Mail-Order Stockroom
1R Mail-Order Stockroom
3
GR
Stockroom/ Packaging
Room
 Office 300 sq. mtr. given for stock
 Store 300 sq. mtr. To be used for packaging

11. IHT - Changes for future Improvement
3
Annualised
Hours
Core workforce
employed on a
regular basis
Quality
5
Price Incentives
Encourage earlier
order for festive
periods with
altering price level
Orders
2
Utilising Space
Post website, the
space of recoding
can be used to
stock hence
increasing
inventory space
Space
4
24-hours
operation
Quicker turn
around which
would reduce
inventory level
Time
Website
1
Rely on website,
eliminate recording
process – saving 7
operators working 7
hours a day
Cost

12. Thank You !