Case Study on Natural Designs

Case Study on Natural Designs Inc.

Jim McMaster is faced with the everyday dilemma of keeping his business running smoothly by conducting presentations to students to capture their enthusiasm on birds and wildlife. Within the few years Mr. McMaster became extremely busy in doing school presentations at various schools as well as running nature camps at his home. This led him to quit his job as a fourth-grade teacher and concentrate on the expansion of his business, Natural Designs Inc. On the long-term, Mr. McMaster and his wife Sheila produced bird feeders off of their garage but have to expand due to the increasing customer demands. For this long-term structural decision to be realized, it requires careful and thorough planning which could entail more time and a larger capital from them. On the expansion planning, the McMasters might come to recognize that using of new technology could present a big difference to increase production and shorten its timeline plus improve the quality of the bird feeders. Furthermore, they have to stabilize sourcing to guarantee that shortages would not become an issue in the production. Suppliers have to be able to satisfy Natural Designs' increasing demand of raw materials for the bird feeders.

The operations strategy for Natural Designs is faulty due to the significance of the profit range from the customization of the bird feeders and the production timeline to meet customers' orders. "First, he is not sure that the customization is profitable--he charges an additional $10 per bird feeder, but he is not sure how much extra labor is involved in fulfilling the customization proportion of the order" (Boyer & Verma, 2010, p. 26). Before the business increased, they maintained being on time with the ready-made stock and there was not delay in meeting customers' orders. But when the demand increased, Natural Designs faced a dilemma of speed in producing bird feeders on time.

Things might have been done differently if Jim McMaster gave intensive orientation to new employees as far as the customization of the bird feeders and regulating the dispensation of the stocks. They should make options for the customers whether they want a plain order or customized one to make things lighter and yet maintain the profit increase of the company. By doing this, Natural Designs can streamline customers' demands and not be focused only on the customized order. With the thought of the expansion, the McMasters should hire marketing designers as well as more production employees and HR trainers who will help him create concepts of new varieties of bird feeders that can be much easier to produce and still generate profit range for the company. These might bring a positive change to the company and minimize chaos in the operations and production that might eliminate, if not lessen customer complaints and merchandise return.

There must be structural