Operations

Analysis
Project
MGT 2510
Curry College
Matt Triest, Brian Burke, Tyler Gagne, Colin Murphy

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

PAGE

DESCRIPTION OF PRODUCT/SERVICE...............................................................3

COMPANY HISTORY..........................................................................................5

PERFORMANCE ASSESMENT............................................................................6

DESCRIPTION OF PHYSICAL FACILITY...............................................................8

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE......................................................................11

ASSESMENT OF COMPANY CULUTURE............................................................12

IS THIS A HEALTHY ORGANIZATION?..............................................................14

DESCRIBE A PROBLEM AND RECOMMEND A SOLUTION.................................17

WORKFLOW DIAGRAM....................................................................................20

EFFICIENCIES AND CONTROL TABLE..............................................................22

SUMMARIZE YOUR EXPERIANCE.....................................................................23

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Description of Product/Service

Kids Creative Corner is a toy, craft and beach item shop. The shop is

located on Cape Cod in a community called New Seabury and caters towards

both tourists and locals. Some of the products they sell include boogie

boards, take home craft kits, Waboba balls, Spikeball, and many more! In

addition to their product selection, they offer Sand Art which is done in the

shop. The process of creating a Sand Art is as follows:

1. The customer picks a bottle. There are over 20 different bottles to

choose from, so the selection time can take some time.
2. The customer gets the empty bottle and fills it up with any colored
sand. Many people will make patterns, designs, or even art within the
bottle.
3. Once the customer finishes, the customer caps the bottle and the sand
art is done. The whole process can take anywhere from 10-30 minutes.

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Company History

Kids Creative Corner was founded in 2011 by Matt Triest at the young

age of 16 years old. After summering in the community of New Seabury for

over 5 years, Triest decided to open a store at the seasonal shopping village

called Popponesset Marketplace. In November 2010, Triest pitched a

business idea to his father who told him he liked the idea but needed a

business plan. With the help of his oldest brother, Mike, wrote a business

plan and presented it to his father. His father agreed to back him financially

but Matt must pay him back 100%.

After one year of operation, Triest paid back his father but knew that he

needed more space to expand his product offering. His current 260 sq ft shop

was busting at the seams. He talked to the landlord and negotiated his lease

for the new space, which more than doubled his current space. Triest will be

opening his business for his 6th season in May 2016. Triest will be opening a

pet boutique called Poppy Paws in May 2016. The new shop is located across

from his current location. In addition, he co-founded an online

clothing/jewelry company with his brother Chris called On the Cape.

Matt Triest, Owner of Kids

Performance Assessment

The profitability of Kids Creative Corner the past 5 years has been

outstanding. Its gross profit went from $11,500 to $35,500. This was due to

their shop expansion in 2012. Each year its sales have increased anywhere

from $3,000 to $6,000. We also analyzed its sales data on a day by day basis.

We concluded that the busiest day overall is Saturday, followed by Sunday.

Gross Profit Last 5 Years

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
$23,000. $60,000. $65,000. $68,000. $74,000.
Revenue 00 00 00 00 00
Cost of Goods $11,500. $24,500. $25,000. $29,000. $33,000.
Sold 00 00 00 00 00
$11,500. $35,500. $40,000. $39,000. $41,000.
Gross Profit 00 00 00 00 00

Revenue past 5 years

$80,000.00

$70,000.00

$60,000.00

$50,000.00

$40,000.00

$30,000.00

$20,000.00

$10,000.00

$-
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

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 Total Sales by Day
18000

16000

14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

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Location and Facility

Kids Creative Corner is located

in Mashpee Massachusetts, a small

beach community on Cape Cod. Kids

Creative Corner is positioned directly

next to a community church in

addition to a bicycle rental store. The

building is also only a short walk from

the beach. The building itself is

typical of Cape Cods quaint

architecture. A classic blue-gray coats the outside of the building with white

shutters. A white rock walkway leads to wide-open, inviting French doors. A

brightly colored sign sits directly above the doorway.

Inside the building, the bright colors give an exciting and welcoming

feeling. The surroundings are clearly meant to appeal to young children.

Though the store is not particularly large, the space is used well. Various

corners and displays are dedicated to specific types of toys. One wall is

completely dedicated to beach toys, including rackets, balls, bats, Frisbees,

and countless other items for popular athletic activities for beach-goers.

Another display contains books and activity pads. Employees are stationed at

a small, rectangular counter with one register with an LCD computer screen

and keyboard. To the left of the keyboard is a single phone. There are no

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other employee-only areas located on-site. Managerial duties including

accounting, inventory ordering, etc. all take place off-site.

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9
 Matt Triest
Owner

Nick Grace
Matt Colleen Elena Kelsey
Drepano Campbel
Souza Reilly Liguori Donahue
s l
Sales Sales Sales Sales
Sales Associate Associate Associate Associate Sales
Associate Associate
Organization Structure

There are only two employee levels within the organization. Six

employees are sales associates who interact directly with customers and

assist with purchases. All six sales associates are part-time employees who

have the same duties.

Matt Triest is the owner. As owner and manager, Matt is in charge of

managerial duties including scheduling, hiring, firing, accounting, inventory

control, and all other aspects of managing the business.

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Assessment of Culture and Strategy

Kids Creative Corner sets out to be a fun and inviting atmosphere. Its

target market is young children and their parents and therefore they strive to

be friendly and engaging with both customers and one another. Kids Creative

Corner unquestionably achieves these goals. They have achieved this

through actively promoting a healthy organization.

Manager Matt Triest has created an environment in which people feel

comfortable. There is a relaxed dress code in which employees may wear

essentially whatever they feel comfortable in. T-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops

are the norm at Kids Creative Corner. Being that the employees are all high

school age, this leaves them within their comfort zone of how they would

typically dress and removes any burden in which they would need to spend

money on expensive work clothing.

Employees are treated with respect. Communication between Triest

and his employees is similar to any dialog among friends. Triest addresses

and speaks to employees in a manner in which he would expect to be spoken

to by them. This adds to the comfortable atmosphere felt within the store.

Moreover, employees look forward to going to work. Many of the associates

have been employed with Kids Creative corner for two years or more.

Triest empowers his employees. As the manager, it would be simple to

create a layout for the store and order employees to keep a store in that

particular order. However, Triest trusts his employees creativity and

intuition. He regularly listens to various ideas they have for re-designs of

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existing displays or new displays. Oftentimes, Triest will allow employees to

run with their ideas and test out a new display. After an initial test of the new

display, he will discuss the results with the employee responsible for the

idea. This generates an atmosphere where employees feel inspired to be

creative and assist the business as a team.

Kids Creative Corner is heavily based in teamwork. Scheduling

regularly includes associates working in groups. Therefore, there must be

cohesive teamwork for the business to run successfully. Triest encourages

employees to collaborate with one another to create new potential ideas to

improve the business. Additionally, when there are various tasks to be

achieved during a shift, it is made clear to employees that they are expected

to work together on these tasks as a team. Associates who do not meet

standards are coached by Triest and other associates until they are

successful.

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Is this a healthy organization?

Clarity

First we want to look at whether the tasks are clear at Kids Creative Corner

and that the employees understand their responsibilities. I asked an

employee whether he or she felt there was much clarity in he or she job and

he or she quickly responded yes. The employee responded that tasks are

very clear, at the beginning of each season; each employee is given specific

tasks for the year that he or she must accomplish everyday throughout the

year. At beginning year meetings, the owners give the employees specific

guidelines on general work place behavior. The employees are very

knowledgeable in the fact that without them and their sales, the company

will not succeed. From the answers employees gave to me, everything from

tasks, behavior, and the goals are very clear in the company.

Cohesive Leadership team

With no definite manager at this time in the stores every day with the

employees, it is important that the employees come together and act as

individual leaders during the workday. The employees have a company

leader every time the owner comes in and holds a meeting. The cohesive

leader must have certain traits including trust, conflict resolution,

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commitment, accountability and results. When asking employees about their

owner and whether he was a good leader they generally had the same

answers. All employees said that the owner is very trustworthy and that they

trust his judgment on the decisions he makes. They said that he handles

conflict really well despite not being their every day. They explained how

anytime a problem arises in the store, the owner will come to the store and

help work with the person with the problem if its personal, or work with

every employee if its a storewide problem. The employees talked about how

the owner is very committed to the company and the store and they notice

that by the fact that if they need an extra employee one day, he will come in

and help out. They feel the owner is very accountable for all of his decisions

for the company and thus, he has created very good results for the company.

Although this store does not have a manager or a specific leader in the store

every day, the employees feel like the system works for them and that they

trust the owner with this decision.

Over Communicate

With no manager, communication is key in this store. Communication in this

company doesnt just come from the owner. The owner leaves a lot of

freedom for the employees in decision-making and communication in the

store. The owner only likes to come in to solve problems and for meetings

with the employees. This shows that he relies on the employees to

communicate to one another and, if they cant figure it out, then to contact

the owner. When asked about communication in the store, employees

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responded in mixed ways. Some employees really enjoyed the freedom the

owner gives them and others wish they had an in house manager to help

with communication conflicts. Those who liked it said that it is easy to

communicate with employees, and that they really enjoy that the owner

trusts them with solving conflicts, sales, marketing, and other aspects for the

company. Those who do not like having no manager said that they wish they

had a manager to go to when a problem arose and they had a question.

Despite a few employees not feeling the communication is strong, I feel like

these employees are not problem solvers and that the communication in the

store is pretty strong.

Reinforce communication

The reinforcement of communication comes from the employees, in my

opinion. The owner distributes information to the employees and they

reinforce this to each other and customers. As I said above, there are some

mixed emotions on this aspect as well. This is because sometimes the

employees have questions sometimes and they dont have a manager to

answer those questions. Some of the employees feel like the owner needs to

find a way to communicate in other ways, such as emails or weekly letters to

the employees to reinforce what each of their tasks are and what they should

be doing.

Run Meetings

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This store holds various meetings, if necessary, but little one on-one

meetings as well if thats what the store needs. The company holds an

annual meeting at the beginning of the season to distribute tasks and give

the employees other information. The owner will also hold meetings when

needed. This could be because of an issue at the store or interemployee

conflicts. When I asked the employees about this system, they all were very

happy with how it works. Most of them said that no one really enjoys

meetings, so they like that there can be very few meetings. They also like

that if a meeting is needed, the owner will come in and hold one. This store

is very healthy in the meeting aspect of a healthy organization.

Inventory Control Problem

Background

Kids Creative Corner is a company that sells many different items ranging

from kids toys to beach accessories. One of their most popular items is an

item called Snaps. Snaps come in a small box and you throw them at the

ground and they make a snapping noise. Kids Creative Corner runs into the

problem of reordering this product very often, so they are always in stock.

Problem Statement

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How can Kids Creative Corner effectively know when to reorder their product

so they are not out of stock?

Alternative Courses of Action

1. Kids Creative Corner should purchase software to track the amount of

inventory that is in stock.
2. Kids Creative Corner should reorder product every couple of weeks.
3. Kids Creative Corner should over order the amount needed.
Analysis of Courses of Action

1. Kids Creative Corner should purchase software to track the

amount of inventory that is in stock.

The way that this software works is by using the SKU codes of products.

This product will know when Kids Creative Corner is getting low in stock for

their products and can tell the employees when it is time to reorder the

product that is needed. By purchasing this software, the employees will not

have to manually search for the products that the company needs to restock

on. A con about purchasing this software is that each employee of the

company will have to be trained on how to use this software to use it to its

full potential. Another con with this software is the price. Shopkeep is one of

the software systems that is very effective. This software costs 50 dollars a

month per register that it is installed on. Kids Creative Corner has one

register so this software will run the company 600 dollars a year.

2. Kids Creative Corner should reorder product every couple of

weeks.

A pro for restocking their popular items every couple of weeks would be

that the company would not run out of their popular products. By ordering

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every couple of weeks, the company will have a set plan that will be used for

the entire season to keep it consistent. A con for this would be that by

doing this Kids Creative Corner runs into the possibility of having too much

inventory for a specific item. Having too much of an item is not a good thing

because if the company is spending more money on the purchase of the

inventory than what they make from the item, the company will not be able

to be profitable.

3. Kids Creative Corner should over order original amount

needed.

A pro for doing this is that all of their products will be involved in one

shipment so Kids Creative Corner will have its needed amount for the entire

summer. Kids Creative Corner would figure out this number by looking

at previous years patterns. For example, last year, Kids Creative Corner sold

over 4500 boxes of Snaps. Its sales for that item has also grown 10%-13%

each year. A con for this would be the possibility of overstocking. Also, it is

very possible that the product could become a hit and completely sell out,

forcing a reorder.

Final Recommendation

It is recommended that Kids Creative Corner implement the following:

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 Kids Creative Corner should purchase software to track the amount of
inventory in stock.
Kids Creative Corner would have to implement Shopkeep on an IOS
device on its register and teach each employee how to use it.
Kids Creative Corner would also have to pay 600 dollars a year to use
this software. If the company expands and buys more registers, the
price to use this software will increase by 50 dollars a month per
register.

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 Kids Creative Corner Workflow Table
Steps
Step 1: Receiving initial alert
for restock
Step 2: Review alert and
complete the process
Control Points
Control 1: By scanning to Shopkeep app, it will be registered tha
bought out of the total amount in stock
Control 2: Alert manager that a product is getting low and needs
immediately.
Control 3: Make sure that the item that the employee
needed to be restocked is in fact in need of restockin
Control 4: Perform quality check before sending emai
you have asked for the correct item, correct amount,
color is needed. Make changes when necessary.
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Overall Experience:

Our group had the same general feeling that this was a really

good experience for us. We feel that the company we looked at was

very well set up and is very successful. The employees were very easy

to talk to and were very helpful to us. The store itself was very well set

up and easy to navigate. This is a store that seems to be very liked by

the community because of the attitude of the employees and how

good their experiences were. We strongly recommend this store to

anyone in the Cape Cod area and anyone in this class looking to do this

project again.