Herman Miller Inc Essay Example for Free

Herman Miller Inc Essay From the headquarters of Herman Miller Inc. , Curt Pullen talks amid the unmistakable pounding sounds and commotion associated with a construction work site about his companys plan to rebound from the recession. Pullen, the firms executive vice president and president of North America, says the workers are installing new lower-height Herman Miller workstations designed to accommodate a growing trend in offices toward more open, collaborative environments. The new product, called Canvas, is part of the companys market-shift strategy after the demand for office furniture fell hard during the economic downturn. The plan also involves diversifying into the health care and academic furniture markets and more emphasis on emerging economies. The plan appears to be paying off. For the first time in nearly four years the company reported two consecutive quarters of double-digit percentage sales growth after releasing its second-quarter earnings statement on Dec 15th. Orders in the second quarter rose 34% to $462 million. CEO Brian Walker noted the companys expanded market reach as a contributing factor to growth. Significant increases occurred in international markets where sales rose 33%. In 2010 the company acquired UK-based ergonomic workstation manufacturer Colebrook Bosson Saunders and purchased assets from Australian furniture maker Living Edge Group. In 2008, the company announced a partnership with Chinas Posh Office Systems Ltd. to expand in the Asia-Pacific region. The company attributed a year-end surge to gains in its international, health care, learning and retail vertical markets. The expanding health care industry has become one of the companys key growth targets. One of the more recent expansions into the health care field came on Jan. 31 when Herman Miller completed its acquisition of health care furniture manufacturer Nemschoff Chairs LLC based in Sheboygan, Wis. Herman Miller designed the Canvas workstation at a lower height than traditional workstations to facilitate a workplace trend toward more collaborative environments. The design also allows more light into work areas and saves space, the company says. Including sinks and headwalls, to be reconfigured to meet patient needs. 2. Business Strategy: Broad Differentiation Strategies This strategy pursues the buyer’s needs and preference to make them satisfied with the product. And to be different from other rivals, the product must have unique product attributes that a wide range of buyers find appealing and worth paying for. The strategy achieves its aim when an attractively large numbers of buyers find the customer buyer value proposition. Herman miller is pursuing this strategy as we refer to the case study that their products are based on the design which is designed according to the people who use the furniture. Like the president of Herman Miller said: ‘people are important not the furniture. Furniture should be useful’. Besides, this company emphasizes on product design and environmental friendly, these are two basic things that they have been practicing for many decades. Furthermore, they also invest more in research and development for product innovation. Take an example of office design product, Herman Miller’s Insight and Exploration team observed various workplaces to analyze how people collaborate and the ways in which their interactions vary over the course of a day, and throughout the life of a project by differentiating the subtleties of how, when, where, and why people connect independent of content or industry. Senior Researcher Shilpi Kumar notes that, â€Å"outlining these collaborative work behaviors will empower designers and decision makers with a greater understanding for how people really work, and will enable more informed choices in regards to office spaces. Herman Miller takes advantage of the growing desire for green products to create a better world and increase ergonomic furniture, because the consumers are willing to pay a premium for such quality and social responsible product. Since the designer of Herman Miller emphasized quality, excellence, and the continual improvement of their products, obviously one of their product which is designed by Charles and Ray Eames since its launch in 1950 had developed from plastic chair to wood chair in 2000. She also confirmed that this wood chair is 100 times recyclable since Herman Miller is concerned about environmental friendly, and Eames Molded Wood Side Chair earns Gold award at NeoCon 2013 in the Guest Seating category. 3. Functional strategy: Research and Development (RD) This category focuses on strategy that is concerned with the actions in managing particular functions within a business especially in RD. In terms of Herman Miller RD, they invested in research and development (RD) financially. Although there was downturn in financial, Herman Miller still invested tens of millions of dollars in RD. The investment in RD was code named Purple. A result of investment in RD was an outgrowth of project Purple. The goal of this project was to spread beyond the boundaries of normal business. Herman miller created a special team called the accessories team in which the team-identified a potential growth area. This team is made to recruit people with different disciplines needed to support that goal. In addition, this team focuses on contributing ideas to the success of the team from all resources and also to develop a particular product as it goes through that piece of work. This project is in line with functional strategy of RD in which a company’s product development represents the plan for keeping the company’s product in accordance with what buyers are looking for (Thompson et al, 2014). In the case of Herman Miller Inc, they began with research in every real design solution in which the exploitation and insights of the best research leads to human-centered design and problem solving. Herman Miller Inc is doing many things for RD in the case of education, sustainability, performance, healthcare, manufacturing, architectures design and ergonomics. Herman Miller Inc has its major RD activities and projects, i. e. its way to support and develop a company’s product. According to Herman Miller’s financial statement for fiscal years 2006-2011, there was a decline in design and research in 2009 due to the ongoing economic downturn. Figure 1. 1: Spending on Design and research So far, they have done some research projects regarding education such as; student’s research work behaviors behind innovation spaces. In the fall 2012, there was a project Herman Miller funded as a way of investing in the next generation of workers by giving students the chance to apply what hey learn in a real-world setting. Herman Miller wanted them to look at the business objective of the company. Besides Herman Miller providing the funds, the employees of the company also participated in the project. After the field research, the goal of this project was that the students shared what they had learned from going to the company for a workshop. The company also wanted to discover more about places that encourage creativity and the places of creative people. Besides Herman Miller providing the funds, the employee of the company also participated in the project. In regarding with the research in technology, the research starts by understanding which technological trends are creating new behaviors in the workplace. So from that, they can produce new design solution. Over the last three years, a group of designers, engineers, and researchers, the Insight Herman Miller and Exploration Team (I E) has focused on emerging technologies and how they alter social behavior in the workplace. Herman Miller’s goal is to identify the technology trends that are relevant to the office and also understanding new behaviors that allow the designers, architects and manufacturers to bring new workplace design. For healthcare, Herman Miller Healthcare saw the opportunity to study and analyze by doing the research from the discussion of Bluewater health in which prior to design development and also the satisfaction and safety of patients and staff members. Herman Miller Healthcare is sponsoring a research project that will explore how changes in the built environment have affected staff in three important areas: Ambulatory Care, Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Department. 3 4. Functional Strategies: Marketing Marketing is one of the strategies used under functional strategy. First and foremost, Herman Miller products were sold internationally through wholly owned subsidiaries in countries including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Australia, Singapore, China, India, and the Netherlands. Hence, they use the international strategy to compete its products in each country. In other words, they use the foreign subsidiary strategies because it seemed that they prefer to have a direct control over all aspects of operating in a foreign country that is the reason why they established wholly owned subsidiaries. As a result, this strategy was successful as their brand was recognized by customers and increased customer base spreading over 100 countries. Moreover, they used green marketing strategy to sell their products. This is because they mainly focus on environmental friendly such as Mirra chair, one of their products which was made of 45 percent recycled materials, and 96 percent of its material were recyclable. Therefore, the chairs used 100 percent renewable energy. Due to this strategy used, Mirra chair was recorded as one of the Top 10 Green Products by Architectural Record and Environmental Building News. Hence, this can indicate the success of using this strategy. In addition, Herman Miller engaged in cooperating advertising with strategic partners. As the example of Hilton Garden Inns which they equipped the Mirra chair in some room and on the desk in the room, was a card that explain how to adjust the chair while also providing the advertisement of Herman Miller’s website, how to purchase the products. Likewise, this is one of the advertising used to promote their products by using the strategic partner. As a result, they can reduce the advertising cost and gain more brand awareness. . Operating Strategy: Lean Production Initially, at Spring Lake, Herman Miller had invested in a giant robot assembly that welded supports inside file cabinet housings, including a tractor-trailer-length automated welding line with 1,000 sensors to drive labor completely out of the process. Unfortunately, big customers like Hewlett-Packard and ATT were pulling their orders of 100 instead of 500 and some wanted file cabinets in two weeks instead of six with much higher quality. The Spring Lake plant could not deliver, and certainly not for the lower prices customers demanded. 995, they adapted Toyota’s leading-edge formula for plant-floor management into an approach they called the Herman Miller Performance System (Boozco. , 2010, para 20). Based on the above quote, it depicted that Herman Miller’s decision to employ Herman Miller Performance System (HMPS); lean production, was to maintain efficiencies and cost savings by minimizing the amount of inventory on hand through a just-in-time process. To ensure a fluid flow on the order – driven production, Herman Miller collaborated with reliable and strategic suppliers. HMPS created competitive advantage through large assembly – manufacturing based. For example, direct materials and components purchased as needed to meet the demand and some suppliers delivered parts to Herman Miller production facilities five or six times per day. This resulted in a standard lead time of 10 to 20 days for majority of the products and low inventories on hand. Interestingly, HMPS managed to increase the variable costs rather than fixed costs while retaining proprietary control over manufacturing process. It was reported that â€Å"the plant managers across Herman Miller have learned that the best-run plants rely on people, not machines. Only people can solve problems to make assembly lines go faster, run cheaper, and deliver higher quality† (Boozco. , 2010, para 25). Therefore, it can be concluded that labor intensive approach tend to outperform machine intensive approach especially when the products demand further customization with limited time and the majority of industry products are built to each customers unique order. Question 2: Culture at HMI: healthy and largely supportive of good strategy execution. Herman Miller had codified its long-practiced organizational values, intended as a basic for uniting all employees, building relationship, and contributing to society. Herman Miller started in 1905 with the Star Furniture Company and created the Herman Miller furniture company with his son in law named Dirk Jan De Pree. From the beginning, De Pree committed himself to treating all workers as individuals with specials talents and potential. This was part of Herman Miller’s corporate culture which continued to generate respect for all employees and take advantage of the diversity of skills possessed by all. This is one of the functional strategies in corporate culture in Herman Miller Inc in which included the company’s approach to people management, procedures and operating practices that provide the guidelines for the behavior of the company. The impact of this culture became one of the competitive advantages that make strong management and employee satisfaction in the company. The business principles and ethical standard of Herman Miller are the management practices as the key of company’s culture. Herman Miller was one of the furniture company named to Fast Company’s â€Å"Most Innovative Companies† in both 2008 and 2010. Herman Miller had pursued a path of reinvention and renewal. Herman Miller has many ways to develop their products and its culture is also unique. Through the growing of the company, Herman Miller maintains the relationship with the employees. Herman Miller’s commitment to innovation included sharing ideas and opinions from the employees. On January 1979, Herman Miller established new organization structures that included all employees were to be given the opportunity to discuss new plan in small group settings. In addition, Herman Miller also established a plan in which all employees became shareholders. Herman Miller Inc. also focuses on more efficient and environmentally friendly by taking a major initiative in 1981. It is in line with a better world value which is pursuing sustainability and environmental policy. They established environmental quality action team whose goal was to coordinate environmental programs worldwide that involves many employees. A Herman Miller’s culture is grounded in and resides to certain core value and some sets for ethical behavior. Herman Miller had long practiced organizational values that were still used in 2012. The values are as basis for uniting all employees, building relationship, adapt the implied attitude, behaviors and work practices. The company adopted inclusiveness which means they include all the expressions of human talent and potential that society offers. As mentioned before, Herman Miller corporate culture continued to create respect to all employees and looking for and utilizing the skills possessed by anyone. The second value is design in which it is important to Herman Miller Inc. in order to make innovative products. It is the way for them for looking at the world and how it can work. The results of this value are Herman Miller established many innovative products and designs. In 1971 and 1984, they introduced products based on ergonomics principles such as the Ergon chair and Equa chair. For another groundbreaking design, it introduced the Aeron chair which was almost added to New York Museum of Modern Art’s permanent design collection in 1990. Other important values are based on Herman Miller’s best performance that focuses on enriching the lives of employees, customers and create value for the shareholders. The result of this value has made Herman Miller share the gains and pains with the employees especially about the compensation. All employees received a base pay and they also participated in a profit sharing program where they received stock in accordance to the company’s financial performance. The company also offered to the employees the employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), retirement income plan, offered annual bonus to all employees based on company’s performance, and in regard to profit sharing both the employees and executives have same calculation of bonus potential. High performance culture In Herman Miller Inc. there is a strong sense of involvement on the part of company personnel and emphasis on individual initiative and creativity. Two of the greatest strengths lie behind our heritage of research-driven design. Respecting and encouraging risks, exploring new ideas and freedom of speech. Owners actively committed to the life of the community called Herman Miller, pride in doing things right, sharing in its success and risks. The strengths and payoff really comes in when engaging in people’s own problems, solutions and behavior. Performance is required at the highest level possible. Herman Miller enriches employees’ lives, delight its customers, and create value for its shareholders. Herman Miller includes all the express human talent and potential, everyone should have a chance to realize his or her potential regardless of color, gender, age, sexual orientation. It believes that skill; different educational background could bring the company uniqueness. Adaptive Culture Herman Miller always keep innovating its products to serve their customers better. Herman Miller’s corporate culture, which continued to generate respect for all employees, had fueled the quest to tap the diversity of gifts and skill held by all. The company designs products according to what people want the most, and it is a way of looking at the world and how it works or does not. To design a solution, rather than simply devising one, required research, thought sometime starting over, listening and humility. Manager and employees support each other in dealing with working environment. Herman Miller designed the Canvas workstation, at a lower height than traditional workstations to facilitate a workplace trend toward more collaborative environments. The design also allows more light into work areas and saves space, the company says. Additionally, the company also keeps changing its production designs from time to time according to the needs of the people and follow ergonomic system. Herman Miller hired much expertise to design its furniture, and it is costly to spend on R;D but company the company was willing to take risks on new innovation. Financial performance Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 Revenue ($ millions) $ 2,012. 1 $1,630. 0 $1,318. 8 $1,649. 2 R;D to Sales Ratio R;D/Sale 51. 2 / 2,012. 1 = 2. 5 % 45. 7 / 1,630. 0 = 2. 8 % 40. 5 / 1,318. 8 = 3. 1 % 45. 8 / 1,649. 2 = 2. 8 % Table 2. : HMI’s Revenues and R;D to Sales ratio from 2008 to 2011 Figure 2. 1: Research and development (R;D) to Sales ratio from 2008 to 2011 The above graph shows the trend of R;D sales ratio which increases from year 2008 until 2010. However, it decreased slightly in 2011 due to low R;D investment because of recession. However, it is not clear whether measuring the R;D ratio is a good metric to represent its efficiency towards a company. This is because it takes into consideration the R;D expenses rather than R;D investment thus it is easy to manipulate the number by lowering the R;D expenditure. Even, in the balance sheet of Herman Miller, the R;D investment is not disclosed under assets. If R;D is capitalized as asset, then it depicts the efficiency of R;D towards business revenues. In brief, due to that constraint, we assume that at least the R;D sales ratio increases and contributes positively towards Herman Miller’s business structure as Herman Miller invests heavily in R;D to create the furniture. Figure 2. 2: HMI’s Revenues from 2008 to 2011 The above graph illustrates that the trend of sales revenue decreases from year 2008 until 2010. However, it started to increase in year 2011. Thus, in brief, Herman Miller is improving in their sales through investment in Research and Development and produces competitive design. Question 3: HMI’s Financial situation: prior years and its competitors 1. HMI’s financial situation In order to measure the financial performance of Herman Miller Inc, we have used different ratios, such as liquidity, profitability, leverage and activity ratios. Besides, we also compare the financial performance of HMI in relation to its competitors – HNI and Steelcase Inc from 2008 until 2012 based on the above mention ratios. For our case, we have used the current ratio to measure the extent to which the three companies (HMI, HNI and Steelcase) can meet their short term obligations as shown in the figure below. Figure 3. 1: HMI’s current ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The figure above shows the current ratios for the three manufacturers’ of office furniture and equipment for five consecutive years. In the case of Herman Miller Inc. , their current ratio showed some slight increase of about 1 percent from 2008 to 2009. However, a drop of about 21 percent was xperienced in 2010 but they were still able to maintain a current ratio of greater than 1. In the year 2011 and 2012, there had been a tremendous increase in their current ratio to 1. 76 and 1. 81 respectively. This current ratio of greater than 1 provides additional cushion against unforeseeable contingencies that may arise in the short term. In the case of HNI, their current ratio showed a moderate increase of about 7 percen t from 2008 to 2009. However, for the subsequent years, HNI experienced a decrease in their current ratio of approximately 10 percent from 2010 all the way to 2012. Nonetheless, they were able to maintain a current ratio of at least 1 to ensure that the value of their current assets covers at least the amount of their short term obligations. As for Steelcase, their current ratio showed a moderate increase of about 8 percent from 2008 to 2010. On the other hand, the company experienced a decrease of roughly 8 percent in the year 2011 but they were still able to maintain a current ratio of greater than 1. However, Steelcase managed to have an increase in their current ratio from 1. 37 in 2011 to 1. 52 in 2012. Overall, Herman Miller Inc. as shown a significant increasing trend in their current ratio as compared to the other two companies. This may suggest improved liquidity of the company or a more conservative approach to working capital management. ii. Profitability ratios: Profitability ratios measure management’s overall effectiveness as shown by the returns generated on sales and investment. There are a number of ratios under profitability but for our case, we have used the Return on Assets (ROA) to measure the after-tax profits per dollar of assets and Gross Profit Margin which measures the total margin available to cover operating expenses and yield a profit. These two ratios have been used to evaluate the three companies (HMI, HNI and Steelcase). Figure 3. 2. 1: HMI’s return on asset ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The figure above shows the Return on Assets for the three manufacturers’ of office furniture and equipment for five consecutive years. In the case of Herman Miller Inc. , there has been a decreasing trend of ROA in the year 2008 to 2010 from 19 percent to 4 percent respectively. This shows that the profitability of the company is deteriorating. Nevertheless, rom the year 2010 to the year 2012, the company has shown some slight increasing trend of ROA from 4 percent to 9 percent respectively. This indicates that the company’s profitability is quite improving over the years. When it comes to HNI, it has also shown a high decreasing trend of ROA in the year 2008 to 2011 from 5 percent to -0. 6 percent respectively. This shows that the profitability of the company is extremely deteriorating. However , in the year 2012, there was an increase of about 4 percent as compared to the previous year. The company was able to move from -0. 6 percent to 3. 8 percent. This signifies that the company’s profitability is slightly improving. Lastly for Steelcase, there has also been a high decreasing trend of ROA from the year 2008 to 2010 with about 6 percent and -0. 8 percent respectively. This shows that the profitability of the company is extremely deteriorating. However, there was a slight increasing trend of ROA in 2011 and 2012 of 1. 02 percent and 3. 33 percent respectively. This means that the company’s profitability is somewhat improving. Overall, Herman Miller Inc. has shown a considerable increasing trend in their ROA over the years as compared to the other two companies. This may imply effective use of assets and creation of high margins by the company as well as gauging how well the company uses its financing from borrowing and bonds. Figure 3. 2. 2: HMI’s gross profit ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The figure above shows the Gross Profit Margin for the three manufacturers’ of office furniture and equipment for five consecutive years. In the case of Herman Miller Inc. , there has been a slight decrease of the Gross Profit Margin in the year 2008 to 2009 from 34. 72 percent to 32. 37 percent respectively. However, from the year 2010 to the year 2012, the company has shown some slight increase in their Gross Profit Margin from 32. 49 percent to 34. 26 percent respectively. This indicates that the company can make a reasonable profit. For HNI, there has been an increasing trend of the Gross Profit Margin from the year 2008 to 2011 with about 33. 66 percent and 34. 6 percent respectively. However, in the year 2012, there was a slight decrease of about 1. 3 percent as compared to the previous year. The company’s Gross Profit Margin moved from 34. 86 percent to 34. 39 percent. This also signifies that the company can make a reasonable profit. Lastly for Steelcase, it has shown a slight decreasing trend of Gross Profit Margin from the year 2008 to 2010 with 32. 12 percent and 28. 35 percent respectively. However, there was a slight increasing trend of Gross Profit Margin in the subsequent years amounting to 29. 5 percent in 2012. This means that the company can still make a reasonable profit. Overall, HNI has shown a steady increasing trend in their Gross Profit Margin over the years as compared to the other two companies. This may indicate how efficiently the company is using its materials and labor in the production process and gives an indication of the pricing, cost structure, and production efficiency of the company. iii. Leverage ratios This ratio is used to determine the companies’ financing methods, or the ability to meet the obligations. There are many ratios to calculate leverage but the important factors include debt, interest expenses, equity and assets. In this section, we will examine two ratios which are debt to assets and debt to equity ratios. Figure 3. 3. 1: HMI’s debt to asset ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The debt to asset ratio gives us a quick measure of the amount of debt that the company has on its balance sheets compared to its assets. In general, the debt to asset ratio for Herman Miller fluctuated over the years as compared to its competitors – HNI and Steel case. In 2008, the debt to equity ratio for Herman Miller was above 80 percent and rose approximately to 100 percent in 2009, whereas this ratio was just about 61 percent and 57 percent for HNI and Steel case respectively in 2008; and about 58 percent in 2009 for both competitors. This indicated that almost 100 percent of Herman Miller’s assets were financed by debt or creditors which implied that the Company has high level of leverage and risk, while its competitors had roughly 50 percent of their assets financed by the owners. However, Herman Miller’s ratio significantly dropped in 2010 to about 40 percent which was below its competitors who almost maintained their position over the years. In 2012, 70 percent of Herman Miller’s assets were financed by debt. In general, although the company debt to assets ratio is still high in relation to its competitors, the financial performance of the company is improving after the financial crisis. However, the Company needs to further reduce the amount of debt resulting to the reduction of risk; this is because it may affect the company’s survival in the long-run. Figure 3. 3. 2: HMI’s debt to equity ratio versus its competitors’ ratio A debt-to-equity ratio measures the amount of debt a company uses to fund its business for every dollar of equity it has. In other words, it is a measure of a companys ability to repay its obligations. Generally companies with less debt equity ratio are less risky than the companies with high ratios. As we can see from the graphs, Herman Miller Inc. has the highest ratio over the year in relation to the other companies. For instance, its ratio fluctuated significantly over the years which were at 32. 7 and 94. 91 in 2008 and 2009 respectively. This might be due to the effect of the financial crisis, which caused the company to increase its debt financing heavily. Also, this indicates that the company had substantial high amount of debt as compared to equity which can endanger the long term survival of the firm since the company may not be able to generate enough cash to satisfy its debt obligations . Meanwhile, debt to equity ratio for HNI and Steel case was roughly lower than 2, which was acceptable for large public companies. For Herman Miller, however, this ratio sharply dropped over the next years to just about 8. 62 in 2010 and 2. 37 in 2012. In contrast, its competitors still can maintain their ratio below two over the next years. In order to improve this ratio, Herman Miller had sold its common stock and tried to lower the mount debt financing, this can be seen by the amount of long-term debt decreasing. This implies that the company’s financial performance has been improving after the financial crisis. In terms of leverage, overall, it can be said that the performance of the company has been improving over the years and regaining its position in the furniture market after the economic downturn. Although it may not do well as compared to its competitors in terms of financing the debt and equity, there is a sign of improvement and effort in positioning its self in the market industry in U. S. iv. Activity Ratios Figure 3. 4. 1: HMI’s Inventory turnover ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The inventory turnover is commonly used to measure the operational efficiency in managing its assets. Based on the figure 4. 1 illustrated above, in 2009, Herman Miller Inc. has the highest ratio compared to other years. This high ratio could indicate two conditions, such as; whether the company has strong sales during the year or it has an ineffective buying activity. However, it is perceived that the company did have strong sales proven from the lowest level of inventory and high sales revenue which are seen in the annual report during the year. While in 2010, Herman Miller Inc. ’s turnover ratio drops significantly compared to the other years. Its cost of sales for the year has the lowest and showed a decrement of 24% from previous year which simultaneously contribute to low ratio as well as indicating the lack of effectiveness particularly in turning its inventory into sales. One of the reasons is that it could be due to the recession which highly affected the company, and hence making them to reduce the cost of sales. However, Herman Miller Inc is getting better in turning its inventory into sales proven from the increment of its ratio by year. Additionally, compared to competitors, the position of the ratio shown for Herman Miller Inc. is located somewhat in the middle. Steelcase is somewhat faster in turning their inventory into sales compared to others. In contrast, HNI has the lowest rate. This proves that Steelcase is more effective in managing its operational assets. Figure 3. 4. 2: HMI’s Average collection period versus its competitors’ ratio Average collection period is the number of days it takes a company to collect its account receivables. As illustrated from the figure 4. 2 above, Herman Miller is getting better in obtaining its receivables shown by the average days taken which was from 58 days in 2008 and 34 days in 2012. This demonstrates that Herman miller Inc. onstantly improve its credit policy effectiveness confirmed by a dramatic slump by years. Comparing to other competitors, originally HNI was the most effective company in managing its credit term policy, as the company only took 38 days in collecting its account receivables compared to Steelcase or Herman Miller. However, the company ended up to be the highest rate at 2012 showing that it is not effective in evaluating company’s credit policy. As a result, when a company possesses a lower average collection period, it is seen as optimal as it indicates that the company does not take very long to turn its receivables into cash. . HMI’s current strategies: an issues of need to change its strategies during poor economic conditions The current Herman Miller strategy which focuses on growth strategy, through innovative products and related diversification made the company to survive the Great Depression early in its history, multiple recessions in 20th century and in early 21st century the company recovered from the dot-com bust and was able to continue expanding overseas. The furniture industry is an economically volatile industry. The office furniture segment of the industry was hit hard by the recession. Industry sales decreased 26. 5 percent during the 2009 economic downturn. However, because of the innovative and diversification, Herman Miller was able to outperform its competitors in terms of sales and profitability, during that time Herman Mill’s sales dropped by 19% which is relatively low in comparison with its competitors HNI Corporation and Steelcase which had dropped by 33 percent and 28% respectively. The furniture industry is at its maturity stage, thus Innovation is crucial to the company’s survival. If Herman Miller continues to successfully innovate, it will enable them to compete in the market strongly. The industry had been negatively impacted telecommunication which had reduced the need office furniture. Yet, more employees were spending more hours in front of the computer screens than ever before. Because of Herman Miller’s effective innovation, they were able to respond to the need of ergonomically correct office furniture that had helped to decrease fatigue and injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome. In summary, the company does not need to radically alter its main strategy which focuses more on innovation and diversification as it’s the reason they were not dramatically hit by recessions and competitions among the rivals. 3. Recommendation: i. Reduced current benefit and incentive schemes There are several incentives that had been eliminated by Herman Miller’s management due to the economic downturn in 2009. The suspend of 401(k) contribution plans (saving contribution plan), cut-off 15 percent of current workforce and 10 percent reduction in salary for remaining workforce had been implemented during the crisis. However the pay cuts was discontinued because of Herman Miller’s quick turnaround. The company was stable starting the year 2011, but the selling, general, and administrative were the highest contribution of the operating expenses. Specifically, â€Å"†¦$3. million and $16. 6 million of additional operating expenses during fiscal 2011 due to the reinstatement of all of our employee benefits and employee incentive expenses† (Herman Miller’s Annual Report, 2011). The company believed that the large benefit and incentives had created motivated and skilful employees which are the key of its competitive advantage. Even though the company has increased in sales as compared to the year 2010, it is important to cut the costs by eliminating some of the less important incentives schemes and benefits such as $100 rebate on a bike purchase, concierge services and one-site services to name a few. Previously, the company had eliminated the 401(k) contribution plan so that they could stop providing some percentage on the employees’ contribution. It is crucial since it could allow the company to save a significant amount of money in the long run (Richardson, 2009). It can be done by communicating the problems and issues which need to be addressed to the staff before they get out of hand. Address the problems proportionately and regular communication could make the staff be aware on their role to support the company throughout the economy downturn. By having it, the staff might accept the decision positively and provide effort to help the company to fully recover after the recession (‘Recession Business Cost Cutting†, 2013). ii. Reduction in company’s cost of sales According to Herman Miller’s Annual Report (2011), the increase in cost of sales for the year 2011 was due to the increase in sales volume that was driven primarily by cost leverage on higher production, which was partially offset by deeper discounting, higher employee benefit and incentive costs, and higher costs of key direct materials, most notably steel and steel components. Besides that, the cost of direct material increased as compared to previous years which there was increase in the cost of commodities and the increase in discounting, which has the effect of reducing net sales The costs of certain manufacturing materials used in producing finished products are sensitive to the volatility of commodity market price. The cost of direct labor and overhead were increased due to increase in product volume while the cost of freight expenses had increased during the year because of increase in product volume as well as increase in fuel costs in 2011. First recommendation to cut the cost of sales in terms of direct material is substituting lower cost material where possible to replace the expensive one and each angle should be considered for better decision. For example, the substitution of carbon steel to replace expensive stainless steel could reduce the cost but the corrosion protection might not last longer. This method should be applied if only the benefit from the substitution is higher than the cost of reduction in quality (Lewis, n. d. ). Second recommendation is by eliminating unnecessary product features to reduce cost. The company should produce a product that really suits customers’ preferences in buying their products. For example, the company should identify whether customers are purchasing its products because of their unique looks, lower price or high quality. If customers buy the products because of their lower price, unique features may not be needed (Lewis, n. d. ). Third recommendation which is the most effective one is by hedging the price of the steel through futures contract. According to Herman Miller’s Annual Report (2011): The company believes market prices for commodities in the near term may move higher and acknowledges that over time increases on its key direct materials and assembly components are likely. Consequently, it views the prospect of such increases as an outlook risk to the business† (p. 34). By locking the price in the contract, it could eliminate any risk of price volatility (â€Å"Hedging in Practice†, 2013). For example, if there is a huge possibility that the price of steel will increase in a certain period of time. Due to that, the company will engage in future contract and lock-in the price for a specific period in the future. Regardless of increase in steel price, the company is eligible to buy the commodity at a lower lock-in price as stated in the agreed future contract. Conclusion Herman Miller Inc. has implemented different strategies in order to improve its performance and expand its self in furniture market, such as diversified strategy, broad differentiation strategy, green marketing, product development and innovation. In addition, besides focusing on those strategies to achieve the business goals, the company also concerns about how it communicates and treat its employees. â€Å"All workers as individuals ith special talents and potential† can be considered as one of the healthy culture at Herman Miller since 1927 and the Company continued to generate respect for all employees and fueled the quest to tap diversity of gifts and skills held by all. According to one of the verse in chapter 42 of the Qur’an: â€Å"Those who hearken to their Lord, and establish regular Prayer; who (cond uct) their affairs by mutual Consultation; who spend out of what We bestow on them for Sustenance† (Quran 42:38) The verse above explains the importance of mutual consent in making a decision. Islam encourages Muslims to decide their affairs by consulting with those who will be affected by the decision. Thus, in the case of Herman Miller, it empowers its employees and nurture participative decision making so that the employees feel as part of the company. Surviving in matured furniture industry and the economic volatility such as recession, demand full cooperation from the whole organization. It is not easy to integrate the diverse nature of employees with different backgrounds and behaviors to achieve goal congruence. Thus, Herman Miller’s healthy culture leads to its employee’s readiness to accept any relevant decision by Herman Miller such as cutting their salaries as the employees work with Herman Miller and not just work for it. Furthermore, in term of design value, the designer team of Herman Miller always emphasized on quality, excellence, and the continual improvement of their products. â€Å"At Herman Miller the products we made decade ago are still sold after today, and products we make today we will do for a decade to come. † All in all, Herman Miller should pursue its current strategies and continue to expand those strategies such as product innovation, diversification and so on. We believe that these strategies have made and will make Herman Miller one of an outstanding and award winning Company. They will continue to provide the Company with the ability to renew and reinvent itself in the furniture market and outperform its rivals in the future. From the explanation above, it gives us a broad view of how the company’s long-term strategy and objective affects all their business: from product design to decision-making process to the culture of the Company.

Sleep Disorders Essay -- essays research papers

4) SLEEP DISORDERS, SYMPTOMS, KNOWN CAUSES AND TREATMENTS. Sleep is something that every person needs. Without sleep a normal days task seem never ending. Your body suffers and you suffer even people who come in contact with you suffer too. Without sleep you can function normally. Your moods change changing your personality, changing how you perceive the world. The average adult needs eight hours of sound sleep each night. However most adults get between five and six hours, " (Encarta 1998).This one or two hours that is lost each night can have an affect on our health and our lives. "The single element that ties sleep disorders together is that they disrupt in one or more parts of out sleep cycle."(Zimbardo pg.98) The three types of sleep disorders are: insomnia, narcolepsy and sleep apnea. These disorders make a night's sleep sometimes hard and mostly uncomfortable. " Insomnia is a disorder that involves insufficient sleep." (Zimbardo pg. 98) Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder. Insomnia occurs on a regular basis." Its symptoms are chronic inability to fall asleep quickly, frequent arousals during sleep or early morning awakenings."(Zimbardo pg.98) Insomnia can be caused by stress or constant worrying, medical problems or mental disorders. The lack of sleep can cause depression and heart disease. In most cases adults suffer from insomnia....

Deadly Unna Essay

Phillip Gwyne’s novel, â€Å"Deadly Unna? † explores how the main character Gary Black, a white boy from the â€Å"Port† also known as â€Å"Blacky† grows up by not agreeing to racism. Blacky experiences prejudice and friendship from both the aboriginal and white communities. Blacky begins to develop a greater tolerance for aborigines and their culture, and then he further attempts to apply this knowledge to the intolerant and prejudiced town in which he lives. The boy who helps him shift in his opinion of aborigines is a local aborigine named â€Å"Dumby Red†, who lives in the aboriginal missionary â€Å"The Point†. Dumby is of Blacky’s Football team and helps Blacky in various ways to become more tolerant. Throughout the book, Blacky learns many things about friendship. Blacky begins to understand the aborigines and their culture, and he then tries to apply it to the intolerant town in which he lives. Blacky’s first step is when Dumby saved him from being beaten up by Mad Dog, giving Blacky a reason to stop hating Dumby. The only reason why Blacky hated Dumby in the first place was because his friends Dazza and Pickles disliked aboriginals. After Dumby said bye to Blacky after a footy game, his Port friends asked Blacky if they were friends. Blacky replies; â€Å"No way. Not him. I hate his guts. (Ibid, p. 25). This shows it is not that Blacky did not like Dumby, it is just that Dazza and Pickles pressured Blacky to dislike Aboriginals and not to befriend them. Blackys friendship with Dumby later develops into Blacky being accepted and befriending Dumby’s family and relatives. Despite his two Port friends Pickles and Dazza. Blacky stays proud of his new friendship with Dumby. Blacky gradually matures by the end of the year learning a lot about himself from the aborigines and his fellow town. At the start of the book Blacky likes an aborigine named Clarence; Darcy (Blacky’s mate) gives him advice about Clarence and other female aborigines, Darcy states; â€Å"Just a word of advice from an old bugger who’s seen a thing or two in his day. You be careful of these gins (Female aborigines) now, lad. Nice girls, but they’ve all got the clap (Gonorrhea). Every last one of ‘em’. † (Gwynne, 1998, p. 122). Blacky thinks about this for a moment and agrees that Darcy is quite smart so decides to be careful of Clarence. Later in the story Blacky is sitting at the bar and Big Mac, the bar tender starts to tell a racist joke. When he finishes and the entire bar starts laughing, Blacky does not, he has heard and told the joke before and laughed at it, but it did not seem funny now because of his new friendship with Dumby and Clarence. This shows how Blacky has grown and how he has no humour for racisms. Blacky’s thoughts about prejudice in the town are confirmed after the football presentations. When the McRae medal was won by Mark Arks (from the white boys footy team), Blacky could not believe that his town could go this far and be so racist, Dumby had contributed so much to the team all season, he had been the true team player and was the best and everyone in the Port new it, but they continued to say nothing, Blacky then became really angry. Blacky states;â€Å"its bullshit, that’s Dumbys trophy,† (Ibid, p. 133). Blacky realized how racist his town was against the Nungas (Aboriginals). This was the turning point of Blacky’s view of the town. Blacky realized how much the Goonyas (white people) in his town hated the Nungas. Another example of Prejudice is when Blacky told Pickles and Darcy about Dumby’s funeral both of them thought Dumby deserved to die just because he robbed a bar. Pickles states; â€Å"The old man reckons he got what he deserved. † (Ibid, p. 205-206) and Darcy agrees. Blacky saw that his friends were being prejudiced towards Dumby and the whole town is prejudiced towards the aborigines and their culture. Blacky’s thoughts and actions on Prejudice, Friendship and Growing up have developed into a more balanced position by the end of the year. Blacky was an immature little boy laughing at racist jokes but now he has matured into a young man driven by the prejudice in the town and his friendship with Dumby. Blacky shows this in his actions by not attending Cathy’s BBQ or going fishing with his dad and attending Dumby Red’s funeral at the Point with all the Aboriginals. This was a hard decision to make as Cathy would hate him and his father would declare him a gutless wonder for the rest of his life. There was a challenge in this as well as the aborigines might not want him there as he was a Goonya. Clarence states;â€Å"Hey, thanks for coming and all, brudda† (Ibid, p. 29). This shows that even though Blacky wasn’t family he was just as close to Dumby as a friend or brother. Gwyne’s novel, â€Å"Deadly Unna? † explores Blacky’s life and how he has made a priceless friendship with Dumby. Blacky mellows throughout the novel by disagreeing with racism and how prejudiced the town is towards Aboriginals. Blacky experiences many emotions throughout the novel and this culminates when Blacky attends Dumby’s funeral, thus showing his friendship with Dumby, Maturing to make his own decisions and how he is not amused by Prejudice anymore.

Romeo and Juliet Movie Comparison - 2714 Words

In Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet, is a traditional adaptation of Shakespeare’s original Romeo and Juliet, with some variations. Baz Luhrmann directed the 1996 version, also known as the MTV Romeo †  Juliet. This version is very modernized, but keeps the language intact with few changes. There are many differences between Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet and the Signet version of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo’s entire speech that begins â€Å"Alas that love, whose view is muffled still, Should without eyes see pathways to his will!† (at act 1 scene 1 line 174) is deleted. With the deletion of these lines, the audience, is not privy to his longing for Rosaline. Even though Friar Lawrence mentions Rosaline later in the movie, we are†¦show more content†¦The balcony scene is another scene that shows the differences between the two actors. In the 68 version, Whiting is very childish and playful. He plays around in the trees while hes waiting for Juliet. This reminded me of the young Kevin Costner in Silverado when he was swinging from the jail cell bars, showing his youth. He is also like a puppy, very young and immature; he seems unconcerned about his safety; he only has eyes for Juliet. We can see that is his only thought or concern. When he leave s we see him jumping and skipping, and once again we are aware of his youth. Leonardo De Caprio shows much more passion and desire. We do not get the sense of immaturity with De Caprio, but rather a sense of manhood. His eyes show deep desire, like he knows what she looks like naked. He also is very sure and thrilled, he is aware of the danger by his presence and takes caution to be careful. Whiting seemed oblivious to his danger. His only concern is his love and desire for Juliet. De Caprio is more aware of the consequences of their love; Whiting is only aware of his love. One of the most important relationships in Romeo and Juliet is the relationship between the Nurse and Juliet. In Act 1, Scene 3 we are introduced to the most vivid character of the play, the Nurse. With her speech that begins Even or odd, of all days in the year, Come Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen. (1.3.16-48), we learn that she nursedShow MoreRelated Romeo and Juliet Movie comparison Essay650 Words   |  3 Pages Movie Compare and Contrast nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;There are many similarities and differences between the sixties version of Romeo and Juliet and the modern version of Romeo and Juliet. It is very easy to spot these differences considering the time period each movie was set in. There are some things in the play that totally got cut from both movies. There are also some things that they added to the movies that weren’t in the play. Let us get on to the similarities and differences. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;FirstRead MoreRomeo And Juliet Movie Comparison Essay1055 Words   |  5 PagesIn the original play Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare in 1587, throughout the years there have been movies made trying to convey the message that Shakespeare had wanted. The movies that will be examined in order to compare the differences on whether they are similar to the original are Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 version William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet and Carlo Carlei’s 2013 version, Romeo Juliet. The movies are another version of the original play in terms of setting, tone and charactersRead MoreShakespeares Romeo and Juliet and Baz Luhrmanns Romeo + Juliet 1154 Words   |  5 PagesWilliam Shakespeares The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, set in 16th century Verona, Italy shares differences with Baz Luhrmanns Romeo + Juliet, set in modern day Verona Beach. These stories contain the same characters and conflict, however major and minor discrepanci es are galore in the story lines of both formats of William Shakespeares creation. Some major inconsistencies occur, such as Mercutio dying at a beach, portrayed as a hero, instead of being at a bar, looking like a fool, Friar LawrencesRead MoreEssay about Film Retellings of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet1104 Words   |  5 Pageswill compare and contrast â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous works. I will compare and contrast the 1968 film by Franco Zefferilli and 1996 Baz Luhrman’s film. It has been adapted into screenplays, and remade countless times. Baz Luhrman’s and William Shakespeare’s versions of Romeo and Juliet are similar in theme, but are different in setting, mood, and character personalities. The character of Romeo is a lovesick man who keepsRead MoreRomeo and Juliet Comparative Essay780 Words   |  4 PagesRomeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is a tragic love story about two young lovers who are forced to be estranged as a result of their feuding families. The play is about their struggle to contravene fate and create a future together. As such, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood would try and emulate Shakespeare’s masterpiece. This had been done before in many films. Prominent among them were, Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† and Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 â€Å"William Shakespeare’sRead MoreRomeo And Juliet Film Analysis1647 Words   |  7 PagesDavies, Anthony. The film versions of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare Survey 49(1996):153-162 Web. 22 May 2017. 1. In this Journal articles by Anthony Davies, he attempts to trace, compare, and analyze the play of Romeo Juliet’s life throughout cinema. To do this, Anthony does a close reading of four different films directed by Cukor, Zeffirelli, Alvin Rakoff, and the BBC. With these films, Anthony delves into them while dissecting specific scenes to compare how they are different or similarRead MoreComparison of Two Film Versions of Romeo and Juliet Essay733 Words   |  3 PagesComparison of Two Film Versions of Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was made into a film by two different directors. Baz Luhrmann’s to Franco Zeffirelli’s interpretation of Romeo and Juliet were very distinct and they both appeal to different age group audiences. Franco Zeffirelli’s version was the first film of Romeo and Juliet. It was produced in 1968 and it was quiet typical, exactly what the audience would have expected the film of ‘RomeoRead MoreShakespeare in Love Essay2078 Words   |  9 PagesThe movie that is being compared to a story here is one of the all-time best. The main theme portrayed in Shakespeare in Love is a love that is never meant to be. Shakespeare in Love parallels the play Shakespeare is currently working on, Romeo and Juliet, in which love is not meant to be due to the many obstacles in the way. Shakespeares life in the film is very comparable to Romeos life in Romeo and Juliet. William Shakespeares life in the film and the play he is writing hasRead MoreRomeo And Juliet And West Side Story Are Both Iconic, Enjoyable1414 Words   |  6 PagesRomeo and Juliet and West Side Story are both iconic, enjoyable stories that most people have heard of. Romeo and Juliet was written much earlier than West Side Story was, however it was still based on older Italian stories. These stories can teach us a lot about our daily lives and how we live them. In order to do this though, we have to make other comparisons throughout the story first. So, let’s dive in and analyze the differences between the stories, their origins, and their authors. Romeo andRead MoreFranco Zeffirellis Film Romeo and Juliet Essay1739 Words   |  7 PagesThe classic tale of Romeo and Juliet is a play from a famous writer and poet that died long a ago, Willaim Shakespear. He wrote lots of famous plays and poems that we still use at this time. But the popular one is romeo and juliet, its been directed by two different directors. The first one was directed by Franco Zeffirelli in 1968 this film is set in the 1800 they use the same costume and dialogue as in the 1500. On the other hand the Baz luhrmann production is a 1996 american urban film, its

What Is the Great Sphinx - Brief Overview

Question: What Is the Great Sphinx? Answer: The Great Sphinx  is a massive statue with the body of a lion and the face of a man. Dont get worried if you mix this one up with the Greek monster that riddled Oedipus at Thebes - they share the same name and are both mythical beasts that are part-lion. Just how big is the Sphinx? It measures 73.5 m. in length by 20 m. in height. In fact, the Great Sphinx is the earliest known monumental sculpture, although the statue has been missing its nose since at least Napoleonic times. It resides on the  plateau of Giza, where the most famous - and biggest - of the  Old Kingdom  pyramids are located. The  Egyptian necropolis at Giza contains three monumental pyramids: the Great Pyramid of  Khufu (Cheops),who may have ruled from about 2589 to 2566 B.C.,the Pyramid of Khufus son,  Khafra (Chephren),who may have ruled from about 2558 B.C. to about 2532 B.C.,  the pyramid of Khufus grandson,  Menkaure (Mycerinus). The Sphinx was probably modeled after - and built by - one of these pharaohs. Modern scholars think that guy was Khafre - although some disagree - meaning the Sphinx was built in the twenty-sixth century B.C. (although some archaeologists maintain otherwise). Khafre probably modeled the Sphinx after himself, meaning that famous head represents this O.G. pharaoh. What was the point of a king showing himself as a half-lion, half-human mythical creature, especially if hed already built a pyramid to commemorate his life? Well, for one, having a giant god version of yourself watching over your pyramid and temple for eternity is a pretty good way to keep tomb robbers away and impress future generations, at least in theory. He could watch over his tomb complex forever! The Sphinx was a special creature whose crafting showed how the man he represented was both royal and divine. Both lion and man, he wore the  names  headdress of the pharaoh and the long false beard that only a king wore. This was the representation of a god king above and beyond his usual depiction, a creature beyond normal comprehension. Even in antiquity, the Egyptians themselves were fascinated by the Sphinx. The pharaoh Thutmose IV - who hailed from the Eighteenth Dynasty and ruled in the late fifteenth and early fourteenth centuries B.C.   - set up a stele between its paws that declared how the statues spirit came to him in a dream and promised to make him king in exchange for the young mans dusting the Sphinx off. This proclamation, a.k.a. the Dream Stele, records how Thutmose took a nap near the Sphinx, who popped up in his dream and made him the bargain if Thut got rid of the sand burying him. Egypt FAQ Index How tall was the Great Pyramid?Is it hieroglyphic or hieroglyph?What were the 10 plagues in Egypt?What is the Great Sphinx?Who was the boy king Tutankhamen?What were the canopic jars for? -Edited by Carly Silver

Hydroelectric Power Essay Example

Essays on Hydroelectric Power Essay The paper "Hydroelectric Power" is an outstanding example of an essay on engineering and construction. A hydroelectric power or simply hydropower is a way of generating electrical energy through the use of the force and energy of falling water. It is a clean and environmentally friendly source of energy creation. As petroleum and other fossil fuels become scarcer being non-renewable sources of energy, hydroelectricity is becoming a much more convenient and secure resource.Hydroelectric power plants use the conventional phenomenon of the water wheel to produce electricity. This wheel was first introduced in 1882 and to date, hydroelectricity continues to be a major source of energy amounting up to 24% of the world’s electricity.Hydropower plants use simple mechanics to convert the gravitational force of water into electricity. Such a plant is set up on basic components such as a dam, turbines, generators and of course water falling with great force.All hydropower plants consist of a dam that is used to hold water. When the gates of the dam open, water forces its way with great pressure which rotates the large blades of the turbines. As the turbines spin, so does the magnets inside the generators which are directly connected to the turbines. There is a network of copper coils that work along with the magnets to produce alternating current. This current is then passed to the transformer which then converts it into high voltage current and supplies it to various places through power lines (Sherman Josepha, 2004). With the increased popularity of hydroelectric plants as a clean and renewable source of energy, environmental concerns regarding floods associated with the building of large dams for such plants are also increasing.

International Business Machines Coporation †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the International Business Machines Coporation. Answer: Introduction The project management refers to the process of initiating, planning, executing and controlling the work done by a team with the purpose to accomplish the pre-defined goal (Schroeder, and et. al., 2008). The present essay is based on a case study of the midsize company; Latino Engineering which is facing issue related to the quality of services and accordingly the complaints are increasing day by day. For this purpose, the project management plan related to continuous improvement has been developed to resolve the problem of the business. In this regard, suitable project management techniques are applied along with consideration of resources requirement so as to address the issues which are being faced by the business. Furthermore, Gantt chart and network diagram have been prepared for completion of the project in relatively less. Moreover, Six Sigma and Total Quality management techniques are applied to identify the root cause of the issue which is being faced by the Latino Engineeri ng. According to the given case study, it has been found that earlier Latino Engineering was well performed under the management of Dominic. However, Dominic Latino a founder of the company decided to sell the outright of the company and then get the retirement. After that, an issue was faced in the service quality; defective engineering equipment, poor design and development follow up with the clients and wrong packaging of the equipment. Owing to this, project management plan has been implemented to assess the reasons of the problem and ensure the continuous improvement in the Latino Engineering. In this regard, effective techniques such as six sigma and TQM are applied. The first technique is Six Sigma has two methodologies; DMAIC and DMADV. The DMAIC technique begins with stating/ defining (D) the problem clearly along with a specification of the project goals and case study shows that customer complaint is the major problem. For this purpose, the project aims to improve the quality, reduce the defect in the engineering equipment and reducing overall time taken to respond the customers. In addition to this, the project will target to ensure that the right equipment is packed and delivered to the respective client (Zu, Fredendall and Douglas, 2008). The second element of the methodology is measurement (M) of various aspects where project team will work on finding the reasons for the issue. At this juncture, data related to a working process are collected from the period after the retirement of Dominic. It will be helpful to assess that what went wrong as earlier the level of client satisfaction was very high (Antony and et. al., 2007). The fourth element of the methodology is the analysis of the collected data (A) in whi ch it has been noticed that management is not treating their employees well and offering them guidelines on the right time. It is evident in the case study that in order to maintain the quality, old employees were retained but the significant change was related to the management only. For this purpose, it has been found that the major issue is related to the issues were related to the management so the employees were not being motivated to deliver the good quality (Kuo, Wu and Deng, 2009). The fifth element of the methodology is an improvement in the process (I) wherein management will be asked to follow the effective practices such as motivation of employees and providing the quick response for customer queries (Chakrabarty and Chuan Tan, 2007). The last element ensures the control process (C) in the future which will be done with the continuous audit of the internal function and taking the reviews of customer and accordingly modification will be done in the internal procedure or p ractices of the business. The TQM is another strategic approach which helps in maintaining the high-quality standards in accordance with the set regulations (Turner, 2008). It aims to improve the performance of the business for the purpose of meeting the expectations of customers in an effectual manner. At this juncture, overall quality measures which consist of quality control, quality improvement, quality assurance and management of the quality design is used by the project management team in Latino Engineering (Kerzner, 2013). For example, top management will be asked to create the appropriate environment wherein employees can be provided training to learn new practices in reducing the time taken to deliver the services. Quality culture will be created for which separate department will be prepared that will assess the quality of all engineering equipment after they are manufactured. Not only this, but the quality checking will be done in accordance with the particular requirement of the customers. The customer complaint procedure will be handled by the particular department and reporting of the same will be done at the end of the day (Larson and Gray, 2013). Moreover, continuous or monthly training will be provided to employees to update them with new knowledge. This training aids to meet the expectations of customers effectively and determine the success of the business. Apart from this, management will be motivated to encourage mutual respect and teamwork in the organization. This mutual respect and teamwork will bring out the positive outcome as it was the biggest issues faced by Latino Engineering. In this manner, verification of all produced equipment will be done with the help of quality audit and evaluation of the vendor. It contributes towards increasing productivity and profitability of the company so as to create its competitive edge in the marketplace (Meredith and Mantel Jr, 2011). Moreover, the involvement of employees in the decision-making process is ensured through which employees will get the detail information related to the task to be done. Similarly, clear communication will be provided with the personnel whereby they can understand the policies and procedures associated with the manufacturing of engineering equipment. The plan for eliminating the root cause has been prepared in a structured manner. The first step of the plan to assess the current situation in which project management identifies the current scenario like how many customers are not satisfied and what the standards of service delivery are at present. At the same time, manufacturing and packaging department is also analyzed. With the analysis of the current situation, root causes have been identified that manufacturing process and packaging department is not standardized so the quality is being affected (Stevenson and Hojati, 2007). Owing to this, the objective of the project are set related to quality; 100% right packaging, production of zero defects products and the clear understanding among employees related to quality standards. Further, appropriate strategies were implemented for improving the current situation by keeping in mind the objectives of the project. At the completion of the initial processes, strategies set are implemented such as conducting training programming and offering guidelines to production manager (Besner and Hobbs, 2008). Also, a quality department will be set to assess the quality of a manufactured product as per the set standards and then the quality department will ensure the product meets the expectations of customers or clients. Furthermore, customer complaint department will be linked to the quality department directly so that necessary changes can be made in the internal procedure in accordance with the review of buyers. For instance, production department will be provided standard guidelines to be followed at the time of providing input to manufacture the desired product. Packing and quality assurance aspects will be considered whereby it becomes easy for the corporation to abi de by the regulations or rules in order to maintain the high standard quality of products and services. In addition to this, potential obstacles associated with the project have been removed with the continuous monitoring. At the same time, all information related to improvement efforts is communicated among members of the group. Also, this procedure is supported by the monitoring of the progress plan (Rodney Turner, Ledwith and Kelly, 2009). This is helpful for the business to understand the issues related to the project and accordingly management can easily address all the potential issues and ensure the successful operation of the business in the marketplace. At last the clear guidance has been provided to the management of Latino engineering to sustain the improvement efforts (Sharp and et. al., 2012). Moreover, the training program will be carried out on time to ensure that no such errors take place. These in turn long as well as short-term objectives of the company will be achieved and higher customer satisfaction will be ensured. Lastly, the project has been executed and associa ted issues are addressed in an effectual manner. Resources requirement Every project needs all necessary resources for its successful completion other it might not be completed on time or in accordance with the set standard. For this purpose, current project was sourced effectively by assessing proper requirement at the initial stage. The resources required for completion of the current are; finance, human resources and physical resources. The financial resources will be employed in several activities of the project such as offering training to employees, disturbance in the current work and setting the separate department to assess the quality of work (Sharon, de Weck and Dori, 2011). This indicates the additional financial resources will be needed in the Latino Engineering for meeting the future requirement of the business and determining the competitive edge in the marketplace. At the same time, expert personnel will be hired to impart training and assess the quality of services which will be offered by the firm. On the other hand, it might be possibl e that expert too need training in order to carry out the respective task. These kinds of practices help in sustaining the improvement efforts and meet the expectations of all related stakeholders. On the other hand, physical resources such as the projector, laptop and other related accessories will be needed through which it becomes easy to handle the related tasks in the right manner. In addition to this, human resources such as project management team will be needed that will ensure to complete the several activities associated with the project. All these resources should be provided for implementing the project in a successful manner (Jacobs, Chase and Lummus, 2011). However, extensive financial resources will be needed to meet the contingency situation. At the same time, extensive time has been consumed in scheduling or completing all the project activities related to continuous development. Therefore, different types of resources are required or employed in the current project for each particular activity of the project. According to the case study, Latino is suffering from a serious issue where it is important for management to take necessary action to improve the existing business performance. For this purpose, the continuous improvement plan has been prepared as follows which will help to ensure that problems or issues are not repeated in near future and customers get the higher level of satisfaction with the quality of services delivered by the business (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). The Gantt chart presented in the appendix is showing different activities covered under the project. It will ensure the sustainable improvement in the Latino Engineering which helps to build the reputation of the business in the marketplace. The Gantt chart is providing the information related to all activities covered under the project along with the time of each particular activity. All these activities are interlinked and affect the performance of the entire project to a great extent. The effectiveness of Gantt chart has been shown in the diagram itself because it reflects the predecessors of each activity whereby the right decision can be taken for starting the same and employing the necessary resources. The first activity of the project will be started at the end of the September month and then all tasks will be completed in the month of December. With the view of activity diagram, it can be seen that maximum time will be taken for the implementation of the project (Lewis, 2016). This is because the implementation is the most crucial activity through which company can address the exact issue. However, resources requirement of the project has been mentioned in the aforementioned task (Sokovic, Pavletic and Pipan, 201 0). The rationale behind using such kind of approaches is to ease the project manager in allocating the task and acquiring the necessary resources. This facilitates in reducing the uncertainties to a great extent. The activity chart or Gantt chart is used for drawing the network diagram which provides the guidance related to starting or ending time of each one. This is considered as the most effective technique as the project manager can easily save the time by using the critical path (McCue, 2017). This method shows the longest path of the project completion which might require extra cost but the overall time taken for the completion of the project will be reduced to a great extent (Advantages and Disadvantages of Critical Path Method, 2017). The critical path identified in the below-mentioned graph is 1+2+3+4+5+7+9+11+12+13=60. This reflects that project duration will be 60 days instead of 87; however, the standard time for the project was 87 days which was reduced by using critical path method. It leads to cater the requirement of Latino Engineering in an effectual manner and offer the quality products to customers in the relatively less time. It can also be said that activities 6, 8 and 10 will be done simultaneously with other activities of the project which tend to save huge time and cost. This in turn firm can better focus on the profitability and productivity as the changes will be implemented as soon as possible. Therefore, the continuous improvement plan has been implemented in the Latino Engineering with the allocation of specific time and resources. It leads to improve overall quality and motivate personnel to be dedicated towards the customer satisfaction and offer the sense of satisfaction by purchasing the product of the cited company. In this manner, stated objectives of the project have been achieved by completing the project in relatively less time and working in the pre-specific activities. Conclusion The aforementioned essay concludes that project management plan assists companies to resolve their issues related to productivity, profitability or customer satisfaction. This enables companies to integrate workforce and motivate them to focus on the target. It can also be concluded that with the use of critical path method and Gantt chart project team can complete the project before the time and save the resources. Furthermore, the continuous improvement plan has been made to maintain appropriate quality and sustain the same for longer time span. With the implementation of a current project, the company can effectively control the current issue and stated objectives will be achieved in an effectual manner. 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