Case Study Solution

Questions
Q1. Sheena is the operations manager of her business. Among her responsibilities are forecasting,
inventory management, scheduling, quality assurance, and maintenance.
(a) What kinds of things would likely require forecasts?
(b) What inventory items does Sheena probably have? Name one inventory decision she has
to make periodically.
(c) What scheduling must she do? What things might occur to disrupt schedules and cause
Sheena to reschedule?
(d) How important is quality assurance to Sheenas business? Explain.
(e) What kinds of maintenance must be performed?
(f) In what ways are Sheenas customers most likely to judge the quality of her lawn care services?
(10)
Q2. The town is considering an ordinance that would prohibit putting grass clippings at the curb for
pickup because local landfills cannot handle the volume. What options might Sheena consider
if the ordinance is passed? Name two advantages and two drawbacks of each option. (5)

Solution
1. Sheena is the operations manager of her business. Among her responsibilities are
forecasting, inventory management, scheduling, quality assurance, and maintenance.
What kinds of things would likely require forecasts?

Answer: For fertilizing the lawns, weeding the garden and mowing the lawns weather, time
and material price forecasting are necessary.

2. What inventory items does Sheena probably have? Name one inventory decision she has
to make periodically.

Answer: Seed, fertilizer, rope, bamboo, mower may be the inventory of Sheenas business.
The major inventory decision of Sheena may be:
Whether Sheena will hold more inventory of fertilizer for the next period or not?

3. What scheduling must she do? What things might occur to disrupt schedules and cause
Sheena to reschedule?

Answer: Sheena has to make time schedule for mowing and fertilizing. Natural disaster,
customer demand may disrupt schedule.

4. How important is quality assurance to Sheenas business? Explain.

Answer: Quality assurance is must for Sheenas business because customer satisfaction
mainly depends on the service quality. So if Sheena can ensure a better quality then market
demand will upward.

5. What kinds of maintenance must be performed?

Answer: Mainly equipment maintenance is necessary for Sheenas business. These

equipments are mower, scythe, tractor etc.

6. In what ways are Sheenas customers most likely to judge the quality of her lawn care
services?

Answer: This judgment varies from customer to customer. Customer may judge the previous
services of Sheena. Again the customer may consider the availability of Sheena. But the
proper way is to communicate with Sheens previous customers.

2. The town is considering an ordinance that would prohibit putting grass clippings at
the curb for pickup because local landfills cannot handle the volume. What options
might Sheena consider if the ordinance is passed? Name two advantages and two
drawbacks of each option.

Answer:
Option 1: Sheena can use a personal carrying van.

Advantage:
1. More capacity.
2. No legal problem.

Disadvantage:
1. High cost for buying a van.
2. High maintenance cost.

Option 2: Sheena can use it as animal food.

Advantage:
1. No investment is needed.
2. Extra income may be generated.

Disadvantage:
1. Unavailability of animal.
2. Time consuming.