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A1: Shingle Sense (Updated 01/03/2012 02:51 PM )

MGT 305

You are a supervisor of roof installation crews at a local roofing operation (see for example Ray St Clair Roofing).  Your boss, the director of operations, wants to measure the productivity of the work crews.  You’ve gathered the data on square feet of roof installed below.  Assume that each individual works a 40 hour week.

This year:

Last year:

Some issues to consider as you conduct your analysis and report your findings:

• How is productivity officially defined and calculated? (finding a textbook definition and citing it in you memo would be a feather in your cap)

• In your memo, make sure you describe your analytical method.  This should include the data that you're using, where you got it (cites), and how you plan to use it in your analysis.

• There are different types of productivity measures (i.e., partial factor, multi factor, total factor).  Which one are we using here and why?

• What is this operations productivity?

• Does productivity depend on crew size?  How does sample size affect the confidence of your conclusions?

• How does productivity change from period to period?  (if you're baffled by how to calculate such a thing, click here)

• How does this operations' productivity compare to national averages?  (the Bureau of Labor Statistics is the best source for this type of data)

• What would an information systems that routinely reports productivity for this organization look like?  Is this something that this should pursue?

• What might be a conservative next step (CNS) in improving this operations' productivity?

Report your findings to your boss in memo format.

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