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Easy Business Improvement Operations

Made to Measure

#Consumer Goods
ProHub Comment

This case tests operational optimization through process redesign and labor specialization. The solution requires candidates to identify that the current generalist model creates inefficiencies, and that assigning specialized tasks based on employee skill sets (revealed in the exhibit) can reduce production time by 25% without external hiring or technology investment. The profitability calculation then demonstrates the financial impact of this operational improvement.

Estimated Time 15 minutes
Difficulty Easy
Source NYU
10 / 100

Our client owns a designer shoe-store that makes high end made-to-measure shoes for customers. The high-quality product has gained popularity rapidly and the client wants to ramp up production. However, the highly-skilled labor that our client employs is hard to come by.

Our client wants us to help them figure out how to increase output without adversely affecting quality and the company’s potential profitability.

Clarifying Information

  1. There are no additional skilled shoemakers available in the market
  2. The shoe-making process has 3 stages, cutting, stitching and finishing
  3. Currently there are 15 workers, each of whom take an average of 12 hours to produce one pair of shoes
  4. Each shoemaker performs all three steps of the process under the current system
  5. If the candidate asks whether the process can be changed to one where shoemakers perform specific tasks, say yes
Mock Interview
Interviewer

Our client owns a designer shoe-store that makes high end made-to-measure shoes for customers. The high-quality product has gained popularity rapidly and the client wants to ramp up production. However, the highly-skilled labor that our client employs is hard to come by. Our client wants us to help them figure out how to increase output without adversely affecting quality and the company's potential profitability.

You

Thanks. Before analyzing, I'd like to clarify a few key questions...

Interviewer

Good question. Let me provide some background information...

You

Based on this, I suggest analyzing from these dimensions...

AI Score
Structure Analysis Communication Business Sense Quantitative
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A luxury shoe manufacturer needs to increase production capacity without access to additional skilled labor. By redesigning the process to have employees specialize in single tasks (cutting, stitching, or finishing) based on their relative efficiency, the company can reduce production time from 12 to 9 hours per pair, increasing weekly output from 60 to 75 pairs and annual profit from approximately $312,000 to $396,500.

Key Insights:

  1. Process optimization through specialization and better resource allocation can solve capacity constraints without external hiring or capital investment
  2. Employee survey data revealing skill variance across tasks is critical to identifying the optimal task-to-person assignment
  3. The math is straightforward once the 12→9 hour improvement is identified; candidates must calculate new output (5 pairs per employee per week × 15 employees = 75 pairs) and profit impact
  4. Implementation risks and phased rollout considerations are important for realistic consulting recommendations