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Medium Operations

UPS in Italy

#Energy #Transportation

Practice this intermediate operations case interview question in the Energy sector. Includes detailed problem prompt, clarifying questions, structured framework, and expert recommendation. Part of ProHub's 835+ consulting case library.

ProHub Comment

This case tests operational optimization and bottleneck analysis. The candidate must recognize that the time constraint (8 minutes per delivery × 1,000 packages = 133 truck-hours available in 10 hours) is the primary bottleneck, requiring at least 13.3 trucks. The candidate then must evaluate three truck models based on capacity and cost-efficiency, recognizing that while Truck B has the lowest daily cost, Truck C's superior capacity makes it most cost-effective overall.

Estimated Time 26 minutes
Difficulty Medium
Source UCLA
19 / 100
Your client is a startup in a small village in Italy that provides the local delivery of packages sent to this village through UPS’s next-day-delivery service. The CEO of this firm has hired you to help them decide how many trucks to lease. There are different models available, but our client has been told that they will need to have a consistent fleet (they can only lease one model type) and so we will also need to identify what model they should lease. Let me provide a quick overview of how the company operates: (i) They receive every package at 5pm from UPS, (ii) a bunch of people then sort the packages and (iii) load them on a truck where they are stored overnight, and (iv) then deliver them starting at 9am for 10 hours. How would you suggest approaching the client’s problem?

Clarifying Information

  1. Packages delivered per day: 1,000
  2. Dimension of package (envelope) is 1x1x1.
  3. Operates five days a week.
  4. It takes 8 minutes, on average, to deliver a single package and to be ready for the next one (“assume they deliver one every 8 minutes”).
  5. Drivers, fuel, etc. are not considered and do not make a material difference to the analysis (for sake of simplicity).
  6. Truck A: Cost per day $150, Dimensions 345
  7. Truck B: Cost per day $40, Dimensions 921
  8. Truck C: Cost per day $130, Dimensions 6810
Mock Interview
Interviewer

Your client is a startup in a small village in Italy that provides the local delivery of packages sent to this village through UPS's next-day-delivery service. The CEO of this firm has hired you to help them decide how many trucks to lease. There are different models available, but our client has been told that they will need to have a consistent fleet (they can only lease one model type) and so we will also need to identify what model they should lease. Let me provide a quick overview of how the company operates: (i) They receive every package at 5pm from UPS, (ii) a bunch of people then sort the packages and (iii) load them on a truck where they are stored overnight, and (iv) then deliver them starting at 9am for 10 hours. How would you suggest approaching the client's problem?

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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Practice this case with AI Mock Interview

A startup delivery service in Italy needs to determine which truck model to lease and how many trucks are required to deliver 1,000 packages daily within a 10-hour window. The analysis requires calculating minimum trucks needed based on time constraints and then optimizing truck selection by comparing capacity-to-cost ratios across three truck models.

Key Insights:

  1. Bottleneck identification is critical: time (delivery duration) vs. capacity (truck size) must both be evaluated
  2. Minimum truck requirement is driven by the 8-minute-per-package constraint, yielding 13.3 trucks as the floor
  3. Truck C is the optimal choice despite higher per-unit cost due to superior capacity (480 packages vs. 60 for Truck A and 18 for Truck B)
  4. The case introduces strategic risk considerations (Question 3) and revenue growth opportunities (Question 4) with fixed asset constraints
  5. Framework development is critical—candidates should start with demand analysis before evaluating specific solutions

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