Hazel Case Study

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Hazel Case

Nguyen Quoc hung

CityUniversity of Seattle

       Brief story:

       Hazel has worked for Fortune 500 for almost 15 years. However, the company has had to downsize because of the quality improvement program. Hazel and another 400 workers were fired at the decision of the new CEO. After the shock, Hazel started looking for new jobs but things did not go smoothly for eight months. Her money and efforts are almost exhausted and she begins to feel depressed. Luckily, Hazel has started a job of cleaning the grass through her neighbor's information. Initially she worked for 5 families. After that, the number of families expecting her to work for them is increasing but she does not have enough time to accept their invitation. Because Hazel did not want to waste such business, she decided to open her own business. After working for a year, she realized the potential of this job. She also added services related to plant care and hired two extra part-time staff to assist her. She thought she could expand it if she wanted to.

 Question 1- page39:

1. What kinds of things would likely require forecast?

- As manager of his business, Hazel will rely on future requirements based on patterns identified in his business. The things she would probably estimate would be as follows:

- Cost of advanced lawn mower.

- Number of machines required.

- Risk of accident when using lawn mowers

- Number of households with service needs

=> This is the information that Hazel needs to grasp to help her business more effective

      b.  What inventory items does Hazel probably have? Name one inventory decision she has to make periodically?

          Here is the list of items which Hazel probably have:

• Lawn mower
• Fertilize
• Protection cloth
• Lawn mower repair tools

=>Hazel must make sure the lawn mower is always available because it is the primary tool in her work.

c. What scheduling must she do? What things might occur to disrupt schedules and cause Hazel to reschedule?

Hazel's business consists of her and two part-time employees, so she needs to make a timetable for each member in order to assign the proper work. She should also schedule some maintenance sessions, avoid mechanical broken leads to reduced credibility of business. In case one of the members is sick or the weather is bad, Hazel should re-schedule it to suit the conditions.

d. How important is quality assurance to Hazel’s business? Explain.

        This is important for Hazel's business as customers want to ensure their lawns are clean and neat. If the credibility is not guaranteed then Hazel's business will not last long but will gradually lose its credibility through poor feedback from customers. Quality assurance is always an important factor for a service job.

e. What kinds of maintenance must be performed?

She must always maintain the lawn mower regularly so that it can operate in the best condition, avoiding malfunction during work. Hazel also needs to maintain shift timetable in order to handle any situation.