Hazel Case Study

Hazel is the operations manager of her business. Among her responsibilities are forecasting, inventory management, scheduling, quality assurance, and maintenance. A. What kinds of things would likely require forecasts?

Estimating how much money she will have to invest for gas based on the amount of lawns that she will be cutting, finding the best prices on trash bags in order to throw away the grass she will be carrying. Setting a budget for herself and the company in order to pay her employees, paying for the materials that she may need to continue running her company and making a profit out of what she is making in the end , and money for her to pay other bills as well like her home, car. Etc…

B. What inventory items does Hazel probably have? Name one inventory decision she has to make periodically. Weed eater, Sod Cutter, Weed killer and other chemicals, as well as lawn mower blades just to name a few.

She needs to figure out how much of each item to buy in order to have enough supplies to do each job correctly.

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

Making sure that she allows enough time to make sure that all lawn cuttings can be done correctly, travel time between jobs must be allowed for, day light hours will vary somewhat, and allowing for special attention if something needs to be redone. Rain or bad weather, equipment failure, and if she gets sick or has a family emergency.

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

Very important because if she doesn’t do quality work that she has promised, her customers will fire her and will go elsewhere, and she will be out of business.

E. What kinds of maintenance must be performed?
Lawn equipment will need to be maintained, blades sharpened, oil changed, motors overhauled, Etc. Transportation vehicles will need similar types of maintenance.

The town is considering an ordinance that would prohibit putting grass clippings at the curb for pickup because local landfills cannot handle the volume. What options might Hazel consider if the ordinance is passed? Name two advantages and two drawbacks of each option.

Grass cycling which is leaving grass clippings on the lawn when mowing. The advantage is it serves as fertilizers less waste, and the disadvantage is lesser requests for fertilizers means decrease in profit less labor needed means less demand for Hazel’s service. Xeriscaping which refers to landscaping and gardening in ways that reduce or eliminate the need for supplemental water from irrigation. The advantage is it reduces the amount of trimming waste and saves water. The disadvantage is less trimming means less demand for mowing service, uses slow growing plants hence they won’t be needing mowing service for a long time.