Creative Toy Company

I. Problem and It’s Background

The Creative Toy’s Company is a small firm that specializes in producing small wooden toys that was started by John Wilson. Mr. Wilson is a carpenter by hobby and built numerous toys for his own children, and then he found out that these toys are quite marketable an age of plastic and battery operated and easily broken toys. In the past, upper management allowed each department to determine its own procedure and methods, as long as production orders were filled on time. This departmental autonomy allowed the transportation to rearrange its eight work areas in a circular fashion. This circular arrangement let each department to be in tacked and keep informed of each other’s work habits and productivity. The main problem is the arrangement of transportation department in the company. The physical layout of the department did not facilitate efficient traffic flow to and from the other departments, because the transportation department is located at the middle of the painting department and wooden block department. Supplies and completed toy products were placed in a storage area in the shipping and receiving department, creating a considerable traffic through the departments. One employee would bring supplies to all departments and simultaneously remove the completed products. The consultant brought by the plant manager recommended rearranging the work areas in the transportation department into eight individual areas to facilitate traffic flow. In their report the consultants viewed the department’s productivity as having the potential for substantial improvements. The plant manager agreed with the assessment and had the workstations rearranged during the next weekend. After two months of having a rearranged transportation department, it was obvious that the department’s productivity is declining. The plant manager spoke to all members of the department, hoping to find some answers; however, departments members could not articulate the problem. They only knew that something had changed besides the physical arrangement of the work areas.

II. Statement of the Problem
The main problem is that the arrangement of the transportation department did not facilitate an efficient traffic flow to and from the other
department so the plant manager came up in a decision to change the arrangement of the transportation department from a circular arrangement of workstations to a individual and spread out workstations in the department. The plant manager agreed with the statement and had the workstation rearrange during the next weekend and after two months it was seen that the transportation department’s productivity was declining even though they’ve not change any worker in the department. Company’s productivity is declining. Actions are needed to maintain and brought back the productivity of the company.