Scharffen Berger Chocolate - Marketing
Group Case Brief
Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker (A)
Bowling Green State University
February 14, 2011
Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker
Introduction: The Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker is experiencing an exponential year over year growth rate of their premium product. This is a situation that all new businesses strive for and although Scharffen Berger is pleased with their growth, they are facing a potential dilemma. The company must consider how they will keep up with growing demand while having enough capacity to handle the increase in production and maintain their high quality standards. In order to understand how to meet the increased demand, research was conducted to unveil the problematic issues the company is currently experiencing. There were two key issues that were discovered including: capacity and bottleneck(s). Please refer to the Scharffen Berger Production ‘Current State’ map below, which includes machines and process times, shifts, and current output. | | | | | | | | | | | |
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By analyzing the current production flow there are two possible alternatives and one main recommendation for Scharffen Berger to consider in meeting the forecasted demand the company will experience in the near future.
Alternative One: Additional Conche The first alternative that Scharffen Berger considered consisted of purchasing an additional conche and adding a third shift to the tempering and molding process. With two conches the maximum monthly capacity is approximately 29 conches of chocolate. By adding a third conche to the production, there is a potential to increase the maximum capacity by an additional 14 conches per month. The purchase of an additional conche would force the tempering and molding station to add a third eight-hour
Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker (A)
Bowling Green State University
February 14, 2011
Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker
Introduction: The Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker is experiencing an exponential year over year growth rate of their premium product. This is a situation that all new businesses strive for and although Scharffen Berger is pleased with their growth, they are facing a potential dilemma. The company must consider how they will keep up with growing demand while having enough capacity to handle the increase in production and maintain their high quality standards. In order to understand how to meet the increased demand, research was conducted to unveil the problematic issues the company is currently experiencing. There were two key issues that were discovered including: capacity and bottleneck(s). Please refer to the Scharffen Berger Production ‘Current State’ map below, which includes machines and process times, shifts, and current output. | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
By analyzing the current production flow there are two possible alternatives and one main recommendation for Scharffen Berger to consider in meeting the forecasted demand the company will experience in the near future.
Alternative One: Additional Conche The first alternative that Scharffen Berger considered consisted of purchasing an additional conche and adding a third shift to the tempering and molding process. With two conches the maximum monthly capacity is approximately 29 conches of chocolate. By adding a third conche to the production, there is a potential to increase the maximum capacity by an additional 14 conches per month. The purchase of an additional conche would force the tempering and molding station to add a third eight-hour