Bayonne Incorporation’s Challenges

Bayonne incorporation has recently been facing several challenges regarding its undertakings. The company had expressed its desire to turn around and be successful as it was during its initial years when it was first established. In this work, the pertinent issues that affect the progress of the company will be analyzed and described to give a framework for what the company is supposed to do. Furthermore, specific actions such as the hiring of new personnel will also be addressed. Companies are supposed to be trustworthy. Promises made to customers regarding dates of receiving their orders are supposed to be fulfilled to continue upholding a firm’s reputation to its customers. Furthermore, the cost of this quality product should be relatively low to be affordable to every person. Bayonne Incorporation faces challenges due to its failure to address all the factors stated above. The company has a weak delivery system, reduced pricing of its product as well as the production of low-quality products. It is seen that some delivered boxes lack buttons or zips upon being provided to customers.

Keywords: Quality, cost, delivery, customers,

Background

Bayonne Packaging Company was a company that was located in Bayonne N.J. The firm was worth 43 million US dollars (Shapiro & Morrison, 2012). The board of the company was made up of family members, a local banker, and an external counsel. Bayonne incorporation was specialized in paper conversion. The company produced customized and intricate designs that were used by industries to promote all kinds of industrial products. Therefore, the company provided all necessary services such as design assistance as well as final packaging delivery. However, the undertakings of the firm were limited to small volume operations such as lamination and gold/silver-foil finishing. On the other hand, Bayonne’s employees worked closely with the firm’s customers to develop the artwork and package design (Shapiro & Morrison, 2012). Bayonne faced new challenges in the beginning of 2001 since the dot-com bubble busted as well as the emergence of new methods of distributing and selling software. Therefore, Rand who was the president of the company called for the firm’s staffs to focus on cost, quality, and delivery. By 2011, Rand fired many employees including longest-serving VP operations (Shapiro & Morrison, 2012). Since then, the company is struggling to meet its aim of quality, cost as well as delivery.

Pertinent Issues Facing Bayonne Incorporation

            The main issues that face Bayonne Company include the quality of products from the firm, time delivery and congestion of orders in the Fold as well as the Glue Department. According to Schuler, the Quality Control Manager, the firm’s problems were mostly concentrated in the Fold and Glue department (Shapiro & Morrison, 2012). Here the main issues were omitted glue lines or excess glue. Additionally, Milliken who was the newly hired VP of operations got to know that a report from October indicated that the company recorded 6% defective products due to problems associated with glue. There were also other issues that led to the rejection of shipment products. Some of the difficulties include products lack attachments such as button or zipper. 

            Another issue that faces Bayonne Company is the timely delivery of the firm’s products. Following the conversation of Milliken with VP sales Alex Wascov, their product is pushed due to customers purchasing ads and the internet among many other products an act which influences the specific date since the absence of the company’s product is not received well by customers (Shapiro & Morrison, 2012). Alex Wascov continued and said that the company has ordered as small as one thousand pieces, but some of them are sold at a high price since they are essential to customers (Shapiro & Morrison, 2012). Furthermore, he stated that in October the firm was late more than twenty percent of the total time. Alex showed his concerns about the company’s progress since there is not yet any positive growth regarding the delivery time of the company. 

Analysis

            The management of the company is inadequate and needs to be addressed if the corporations need to progress. It is seen that Bayonne has issues starting from management to the production process. The main problem in the operation of this company is receiving orders. The company’s challenge is seen to arise in various departments due to taking many orders that with its current assets and workforce, it cannot manage to finish on time. Addressing the number of production requests received will ease the pressure on other departments since there will be smooth harmonization of activities in all the areas of production.

As per Milliken tour to all departments of the firm, it is clear that he made the tour at a period when the firm was operating under stress. Additionally, Milliken found it easy to identify questions to structure in his recommendations which he would submit to the president of the company Rand. The central problems which would be on his worksheet include delivery, cost as well as quality which were vivid challenges of Bayonne incorporation. From the tour made by Milliken, several lessons were clear. First, there were apparent flaws that were identified at first sight, and there was a need for a person to be explained concerning the operation procedures of the company. Secondly, staffs working in Bayonne Incorporation new that there was an assessment of the company’s operational activities. Therefore, many of the employees acted to show the new executive VP that working conditions, as well as the environment, was not severe in the firm. Therefore, ordinary working days would be much worse than the assessment day. However, regarding orders which were pending, Milliken had to assess the real cause of the problem since it was not clear if with better management, there would be a significant positive change.

Recommendations

For Bayonne to record profits as required and avoid many setbacks, it undergoes it must ensure that all its activities are done chronologically as per organization’s culture. The main problem that the firm should address is the congestion of orders. It is seen that at the Fold and Glue department, there is a lot of requests being received that complicate the operations of the department n that there is need to break the orders into runs. Therefore, the company should make sure that it has a minimum as well as a maximum number of requests every day which can be executed within the timeframe of the orders. Another option for addressing congestion of requests is to employ more employees and machines. On the issue of quality, the company should make sure that their fixed assets are up-to-date to make sure that products are of high value. Furthermore, the firm should employ competent personnel who will make sure that glue is smeared to boxes in the right amount to avoid a bad reputation.

Conclusion

            In conclusion, it is clear that Bayonne incorporation is struggling to meet its expectation of quality, cost, and delivery. Many companies which are on the urge of reviving their productivity experience different organization changes. Similarly, Bayonne embraced some changes including the firing of its most extended-serving VP for operations and employing another who conducted his first tour in the company to identify the main concerns of different departments of the firm. What the new VP for operation did was a good start in the run to help Bayonne meet its primary objectives because to eradicate a problem one must first recognize what he/she is dealing with to make sure he/she has the right resources to offset the issue.

Reference

Shapiro, D. R., Morrison, E. P. (2012). Bayonne Packaging Inc. Brief Cases. Harvard Business School, pp. 1-13.