SLP1 Example: Excellent Ford, Inc. NOTE: This is an example of identifying and discussing the issues of Productivity and Process Improvement. Your paper may or may not take on the same form or format depending on the business you choose and the nature of the issues you identify. I have generated this business from my experience. You will see that I used four references. You should use at least three references (more is better) and citations to back-up your discussion about productivity and process improvement, as well as any information about the nature of your company that you may have obtained from the literature. Introduction & Company Background This discussion is about a fictitious Ford dealership, Excellent Ford, Inc. Excellent Ford, Inc. sells new Ford cars and trucks as well as quality used cars. The dealership has these departments: New Vehicle Sales, Used Vehicle Sales, Parts & Service, Body Shop, and the Accounting and Back Office. The dealership has generally done well over the many years it has been in business, serving the community of 50,000 and surrounding area of farmers and small businesses. The business is managed day to day by the General Manager. As in any other business, productivity at Excellent Ford is measured by the ratio of output/input, as defined in many references such as Wikipedia (n.d.-a) and Kumar (2008). Productivity has generally not been an issue except during tough economic times, such as Excellent Ford has been experiencing the last several years and up to now. Each department has its own productivity issues since they are staffed and structured differently and each has its own goals. The New Vehicle Sales department is managed by the New Sales Manager. There are several ways that productivity is measured. Keeping in mind the general form of Productivity, Output/input, productivity measures for new car sales are: Total number of new cars sold/cost of new cars sold Profit from sales of new cars/cost of new cars sold Profit from sales of new cars/Number of new cars sold Profit from sales of new cars/number of prospects on the lot The Service department is managed by the Service Manager. And there are several ways to measure productivity. Total Retail Sales / Repair Order Tech time sold / Repair Order Parts sold / Repair Order Tech time sold / Total Tech time paid Processes at Excellent Ford, Inc. Excellent Ford, Inc., like all businesses, is comprised of many processes as defined in the Handbook for Basic Process Improvement (n.d.) Here are some examples: New and Used Vehicle Processes: ORDERING NEW VEHICLES FROM FORD PREPING NEW VEHICLES ON ARRIVAL FOR SALE BUYING/SELLING USED VEHICLES AT AUCTION REPAIRING USED VEHICLES TO MEET STANDARDS AND PREP FOR SALE SELLING AND DELIVERY OF VEHICLE Parts and Service Processes: ORDERING PARTS RECEIVING AND STOCKING PARTS TALKING TO CUSTOMER AND WRITING A REPAIR ORDER REPAIRING A CUSTOMER VEHICLE Productivity and Process Improvement This discussion will review producti.

1. SLP1 Example: Excellent Ford, Inc.
NOTE: This is an example of identifying and discussing the
issues of Productivity and Process Improvement. Your paper
may or may not take on the same form or format depending on
the business you choose and the nature of the issues you
identify. I have generated this business from my experience.
You will see that I used four references. You should use at least
three references (more is better) and citations to back-up your
discussion about productivity and process improvement, as well
as any information about the nature of your company that you
may have obtained from the literature.
Introduction & Company Background
This discussion is about a fictitious Ford dealership, Excellent
Ford, Inc. Excellent Ford, Inc. sells new Ford cars and trucks as
well as quality used cars. The dealership has these departments:
New Vehicle Sales, Used Vehicle Sales, Parts & Service, Body
Shop, and the Accounting and Back Office. The dealership has
generally done well over the many years it has been in business,
serving the community of 50,000 and surrounding area of
farmers and small businesses.
The business is managed day to day by the General Manager. As
in any other business, productivity at Excellent Ford is
measured by the ratio of output/input, as defined in many
references such as Wikipedia (n.d.-a) and Kumar (2008).
Productivity has generally not been an issue except during
tough economic times, such as Excellent Ford has been
experiencing the last several years and up to now. Each
department has its own productivity issues since they are staffed
and structured differently and each has its own goals.
The New Vehicle Sales department is managed by the New
Sales Manager. There are several ways that productivity is
measured. Keeping in mind the general form of Productivity,
Output/input, productivity measures for new car sales are:
Total number of new cars sold/cost of new cars sold

2. Profit from sales of new cars/cost of new cars sold
Profit from sales of new cars/Number of new cars sold
Profit from sales of new cars/number of prospects on the lot
The Service department is managed by the Service Manager.
And there are several ways to measure productivity.
Total Retail Sales / Repair Order
Tech time sold / Repair Order
Parts sold / Repair Order
Tech time sold / Total Tech time paid
Processes at Excellent Ford, Inc.
Excellent Ford, Inc., like all businesses, is comprised of many
processes as defined in the Handbook for Basic Process
Improvement (n.d.) Here are some examples:
New and Used Vehicle Processes:
ORDERING NEW VEHICLES FROM FORD
PREPING NEW VEHICLES ON ARRIVAL FOR SALE
BUYING/SELLING USED VEHICLES AT AUCTION
REPAIRING USED VEHICLES TO MEET STANDARDS AND
PREP FOR SALE
SELLING AND DELIVERY OF VEHICLE
Parts and Service Processes:
ORDERING PARTS
RECEIVING AND STOCKING PARTS
TALKING TO CUSTOMER AND WRITING A REPAIR
ORDER
REPAIRING A CUSTOMER VEHICLE
Productivity and Process Improvement
This discussion will review productivity and process
improvement at Excellent Ford in the Vehicle Sales Department
and the Service Department.
In the Vehicle Sales Department, one key to productivity is to
utilize the sales person’s time effectively. Another key is to
generate as much gross profit per vehicle sold. This is true in
both cases of New Autos and Used Autos. Here is the process as
it flows:
Prospect on the lot --> Sales person gets a deal written -->

3. Prospect signs the deal --> Deal is approved for financing -->
Closer attempts to sell add-ons to increase profit
Over the course of a week or a month, data is collected and the
following productivity ratios are calculated at each step of the
process:
Deals written / Prospects on lot (130 / 510)
Deals signed / Deals written (82 / 130)
Deals approved / Deals signed (66 / 82)
Gross Profit / Deals approved ($207,372 / 66 = $3142/deal
approved)
To improve productivity for the dealership and for the sales
person (who gets paid commissions on each sale), the process is
studied in detail. How can the sales person get more prospects
to agree to getting a deal written and then signed? What are the
issues with customers approved for finance? How can the Closer
present and sell more add-ons such as Credit Insurance,
additional warranties, membership in the Priority Club, etc.?
The answer to these questions are not so much based on muda or
waste and inefficiencies in a physical process as they are based
on psychology and marketing. They are, nonetheless, important
productivity and process issues. Sales managers and sales
people meet on a regular basis to discuss these issues, share
ideas, and agree to try different incentives and promotions to
induce prospects to become buyers.
Now let’s look at the Service Department. The primary goal of
providing service to an owner’s vehicle is to find and fix the
problem. Customers do not like or want to spend money that is
unnecessary fixing things that are not broken and having to
come back several times until it is fixed. This is considered to
be a prime area that makes or breaks Customer Satisfaction,
both with the dealership and Ford Motor Co. The tricky part is
knowing what to bill the customer and what to “eat” in terms of
non-productive time fixing the real problem. Highly trained
technicians, using up to date tools and technologies, and
correctly diagnosing the problem are three main keys to a
productive and profitable Service Department.

4. In order to measure productivity, data is collected on a weekly
or monthly basis and key productivity measures are calculated
with total number of Repair Orders written as the initial input:
Total Tech time paid / Repair Orders written
Tech time billed / Tech time paid
Flat Rate time quoted / Tech time billed
Another key productivity measurement is Time Vehicle in Shop
/ Repair Orders written. Customers do not want to wait days for
their car to be fixed. And the dealership provides loaners to
some customers, which is an expense. So getting the car in and
out is also a priority.
The Service Manager collects information about the difficult
and long repairs that occurred during the month. These are
analyzed and discussed with the technicians in order to generate
ideas for correct diagnosis and repair procedures. Team work is
considered on some major repairs. Ways to reduce the wait time
for parts is also analyzed.
Both of these examples use the continuous improvement model
of process improvement (Wikipedia, n.d.-b). There are ways to
consider use of lean thinking (Lean.org, n.d.). In the New Car
Sales department, customers could order their vehicles from
Ford to be delivered within five business days. This would
reduce the amount of New Car Inventory at both the dealership
and the factory. Customers could create their orders online
without even going to the dealership. If they wanted to test
drive, then a trip to the dealership would suffice. The dealership
would need to have only a small number of new cars as demos.
Lean thinking in the service area is little trickier. Consider
transporting the vehicle to a large regional repair center where
all parts are available and there is a cadre of highly trained
factory technicians. In the meantime, the customer is provided
with a comparable vehicle on loan. Repairs could be done by
replacing modular parts with credit for these parts on trade-in.
The parts that are removed could then be repaired and sold as
refurbished for a lower price at the customer’s choice. The
economics of this supply chain process would need to be

5. analyzed in cost-benefit terms.
References
Handbook for Basic Process Improvement (n.d.) Retrieved from
http://www.balancedscorecard.org/Portals/0/PDF/bpihndbk.pdf
Lean.org (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.lean.org/WhatsLean/
OPM500 EMC Additional Information
A. EMC—Background Information
B. Product Brochure
C. Plasti-Brack Information
D. Manufacturing Processes
E. Basic Financial Information about EMC
F. Financial Information
G. Organizational Chart
H. Plant Layout
A. Module 1 - EMC - Background Info
The Excellent Manufacturing Company
Corporate information:
· Established: February, 1995, Columbus, Ohio
· President/CEO: Jack Walker (original founder)
· Division of National Building Supply
· Subsidiary of RexMag - an international conglomerate of
diversified products
Size and customer info:
· Gross Sales: Approximately $13,000,000
· Total Employees: Approx. 105
· Customers: National and regional home improvement centers
and building supply outlets
Products: Construction and building items:
· FASTENERS
· screws, bolts, nails
· CONSTRUCTION
· Flanges

6. · Brackets – Plasti-Brack
· CABINET HARDWARE
· Hinges
· Knobs
· Pulls
· DECORATIVE HARDWARE
· Towel Bars
· Towel Rings
· Soap Dishes
· Switch Plates
· Outlet Plates
B. Module 1 - EMC - Product Brochure
Productivity & Process Improvement Products: Construction
and building items:
· FASTENERS
· screws, bolts, nuts, nails
· CONSTRUCTION
· Flanges
· Brackets – Plasti-Brack
· CABINET HARDWARE
· Hinges
· Knobs
· Pulls
· DECORATIVE HARDWARE
· Towel Bars
· Towel Rings
· Robe Hooks
· Switch Plates
· Outlet Plates

7. C. Module 1 - EMC - Plasti-Brack Info
Productivity & Process Improvement The Plasti-Brack Product
Line: combination metal / plastic supports
Description of the products:
· Six products, different angles. F90, F100, F120A, F120B,
F130, F135
· Novel item patented by Excellent
· Unique design includes a simulated wood finish and color in
the plastic insert
· Allows it to be used both for internal and external
construction
· Very popular in deck, fence, and shed construction, as well as
in home construction.
Part number system. Each part, component, or raw material is
numbered for ID purposes. This system uses the format: XnnnA.
X is a prefix that denotes the type of part or material: R: Raw,
S: steel, P: Plastic, F: Finished product, B-F: Bulk Packed
Finishe product.
nnn is the body of the part number and can be three to five
digits
A is the suffix which denotes different variations of the same or
similar parts.
For example, F120A is a finished, assembled part, 120 is the
number for this specific part, the 120 degree Plasti-brack, and A
is the small version (B is the larger version).
SAMPLE DRAWING & SAMPLE PROCESS FLOW CHART
Figure 1 shows a sample drawing of the F90. The P90 is the
plastic insert, the S90 is the steel bracket and the F90 is the
assembly of the P90 and S90. Figure 2 shows the process flow
chart for the B-F90, which is the bulk packed F90.
Plasti-Brack processes and descriptions
Machine group 153 Bracket presses.
· Two 400-ton presses
· machine speed is 40 strokes per minute, or 2400 pieces per

8. hour
· Progressive die process, so that one bracket part is produced
per stroke
· Six progressive dies, one for each part.
· setup (die change over), approx. 3.5 hours
Machine group 251 Plasti-Brack insert Mold
· Four 250-ton plastic injection molding machines
· There are six dies, one for each plastic insert
· Cavities per die
· P90 die 6 cavities
· P100 die 5 cavities
· P120A die 8 cavities
· P120B die 4 cavities
· P130 die 7 cavities
· P135 die 8 cavities
· Machine speeds: Plastic injection molding speed is from 18 -
22 seconds/shot
· see table below for Pieces/hr.
· Setup (die change over), approx. 4 hours
Machine group 403 Plasti-Brack Assembly
· Eight assembly stations – tables for operators
· One operator per station
· The rate for the manual assembly operation is 8 pieces per
minute or 480 pieces per hour
· The assembly process consists of:
1. grasp a plastic insert (P90)
2. visually inspect insert
1. if defective, toss into scrap bin and go to step 1, OR
2. keep for next step
3. grasp a bracket (S90)
4. move the insert to the assembly point
5. push insert into place
6. check assembly
1. if insert will not assemble properly, toss into scrap bin, go to
steps 1, 2, 4, & 5, OR
2. if insert does assemble properly, then

9. 7. drop assembly into 10 cu. ft. Tub at the side of the table.
· Operators are trained to also do Hinge Assembly, Towel Bar,
Towel Ring and Soap Dish assembly
Machine group 701 Bulk Packing
· Three operators work together on this line
· Plasti-bracks move here from 403 Plasti-Brack Assembly
· Each Plasti-brack is dumped in bulk into a cardboard box
· Each box holds 100 of one of the items.
· Measuring the number in the box is accomplished by “weigh
counting”
· A lid assembled to the full box
· A label is attached to the box
· The closed container is banded by a banding machine on the
conveyer line
· The completed container is sent to the warehouse
· The speed of this line is 4 containers per minute (400
pieces/min.), or 240 containers/hour (24000 pieces/hr.)
· NOTE: There are other products that are bulk packed besides
Plasti-bracks
· Other construction hardware is Bulk Packed
· Hinges are also “bare” bulk packed for cabinet makers.
Otherwise hinges are bag packed first, then bulk packed to be
sent to home supply stores.
· % of Bulk Pack time: Plasti-Brack, 18%, Other Constr. Hdwe,
36%, and Hinges, 46%
Machine group 251 Plasti-Brack insert Mold Production Rates
MACH. GRP. 251 PIECES PER HOUR
Part number
M101
M102
M103
M104
P135
1309.1
1600.0

10. 1440.0
1440.0
P120A
1309.1
1600.0
1440.0
1440.0
P130
0.0**
1260.0
1145.5
1145.5
P100
818.2
0.0**
900.0
900.0
P90
1080.0
1350.0
1200.0
1200.0
P120B
640.0
800.0
720.0
720.0
** This part does not run on this machine - there are minor
issues with the mold/tool, that makes the fit unacceptable to run
it.
This table shows the average amount of piecies that are
contained/transported in the 10 cu. ft. tubs used for material
handling. The same number of the S brackets are contained as
the F part.
MATERIAL HANDLING DATA:PIECES PER 10 CU. FT. TUB
P135

11. 1937
F135
1191
P120A
1581
F120A
1030
P130
1678
F130
1075
P100
1305
F100
891
P90
1369
F90
924
P120B
816
F120B
609
D. Module 1 - EMC - Mfg Processes
Productivity & Process Improvement Manufacturing processes
These processes are shown on the Plant Layout. You should
become familiar with those that are used for the Plasti-brack
Product line.
· 100 Heading

12. · 101 small headers
· 105 large headers
· 150 Blanking & Stamping
· 151 small presses
· 153 Bracket presses
· 157 large presses
· 200 Zinc Die Cast Molding & Trimming
· 201 small zinc molders
· 203 trim, small
· 206 large zinc molders
· 208 trim,large
· 250 Plastic Injection Molding
· 251 Plasti-brack insert molding
· 253 Hinge insert molding
· 255 Soap dish molding
· 300 Plating
· 301 Barrel Plating – nickel
· 303 Barrel Plating – chromium
· 305 Rack Plating
· 330 Brushing
· 331 Straight line brushing
· 333 Circular line brushing
· 360 Lacquer
· 361 Spray lacquer line
· 363 Brush lacquer line
· 390 Painting
· 391 Paint line 1
· 393 Paint line 2
· 395 Paint booth
· 400 Assembly
· 401 Hinge Assembly
· 402 Hinge Assembly - auto
· 403 Plasti-brack Assembly
· 404 Towel Ring Assembly
· 406 Soap Dish Assembly
· 500 Packaging

13. · 501 Bag Packaging
· 503 Bar, Ring, Dish Packaging
· 700 Packing
· 701 Bulk Packing
E. Basic Financial Information about EMC
Module 1 - EMC - Financial Info.
The following is the Income Statement from the year just
completed.
Gross Income
COGS
Gross Margin
PRODUCT LINE
(000s)
(000s)
(000s)
Fasteners
$1,010
7.30%
$646
4.68%
$364
2.64%
Cabinet Hardware
$3,243
23.50%
$1,783
12.91%
$1,460

14. 10.58%
Construction Hardware
$4,165
30.20%
$2,038
14.76%
$2,127
15.41%
Decorative Hardware
$5,388
39.00%
$2,586
18.73%
$2,802
20.30%
TOTALS
$13,806
100.00%
$7,053
51.1%
$6,753
48.91%
OPERATING EXPENSES
Marketing and Advertising
$850
6.20%

15. Commissions, Wages & Salaries
$1,750
12.70%
Benefits
$770
5.60%
Office Expenses
$175
1.30%
Depreciation
$734
5.30%
Insurance
$943
6.80%
Fixed Energy & Utility Expenses

16. $268
1.90%
Miscellaneous
$132
1.00%
TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES
$5,622
40.72%
Net Income Before Taxes
$1,295
9.38%
The following is the Statement of Inventories (from the Balance
Sheet) for the year just ending:
Beginning
Ending
Inventories
(000s)
(000s)

17. Raw
$ 205
$ 167
Purch Parts
$ 148
$ 151
WIP
$ 389
$ 322
Fin. Goods
$ 242
$ 243
TOTAL INVEN
$ 984
$ 883
F. Module 1 - EMC - Org Charts
G. EMC Plant Layout
1