Custom Landscapes at Affordable Prices

Introduction

Custom Landscapes at Affordable Prices (CLAAP) produces scenic, low-cost works of art under a walk-up sales model. CLAAP subleases floor space for a sales desk and small production area inside a retail framing and art supply store. Customers place orders in person through a CLAAP salesperson and then wait or continue shopping until their custom piece is completed. Fast service and good value are the cornerstones of the CLAAP business model. Customer satisfaction is directly related to the amount of time the customer must wait for the landscape delivery. Previous customer interviews indicate dissatisfaction if wait time is more than a few minutes.

CLAAP owners are exploring the possibility of franchising the CLAAP concept. Having developed a standard Customer Order Form (COF) and job descriptions, the owners would like to evaluate the CLAAP process.

Your group will run the process for 3 or 4 customers, discuss the process, and then make no more than 2 improvements before running the process again.

CLAAP Job Description

Salesperson

The CLAAP Salesperson is the point of contact for CLAAP customers. The Salesperson takes customer orders and delivers completed landscapes to customers. The Salesperson uses the COF to record orders and initiate landscape production.

Job Instructions

  • Greet each customer and fill in the COF by interviewing the customer.
  • Give the completed COF to a Canvass Cutter.
  • Upon receipt of a completed landscape:
  • Call out the customer name
  • Enter the time of order delivery on the COF
  • Calculate and enter the elapsed time from receipt to delivery on the COF
  • Detach the COF from the landscape
  • Hand the completed landscape to the customer
  • Complete the customer satisfaction survey with the customer[FK1]
  • At the end of each day clip together all COFs for delivered landscapes and give them to the Accountant for future billing.

CLAAP Job Description

Canvass Cutter

The CLAAP Canvass Cutter is responsible for cutting canvasses to custom sizes requested by the customer. The Canvass Cutter uses a ruler, pencil, and scissors to cut standard construction paper down to the size designated by each customer on the COF.

Job Instructions

  • Upon receipt of a COF:
  • Pick a piece of standard construction paper
  • Read the COF to determine the required canvass size
  • Use the pencil and ruler to draw a rectangle of the required size on the construction paper
  • Use the scissors to cut out the rectangle
  • Attach the rectangle to the COF with a paper clip
  • Deliver the COF and attached canvass to the Artist.

CLAAP Job Description

Artist

The CLAAP Artist is responsible for creating scenic landscapes on the precut canvasses. The Artist uses color sticks (crayons or pens) to add rolling hills, vegetation, animals, or structures to the canvass as designated on the COF.

Job Instructions

  • Upon receipt of a COF and attached canvass:
  • Detach the COF from the canvass
  • Read the COF to determine the required basic features and custom options
  • Use the color sticks to draw the features and options on the canvass
  • Using a paper clip, attach the COF to the completed canvass
  • Deliver the COF and attached canvass to the Framer.

CLAAP Job Description

Framer

The CLAAP Framer is responsible for adding a frame to the canvass landscape. The Framer uses standard construction paper, ruler, pencil, scissors, and tape to create framing strips, which attach to the canvass landscape to form a 1-inch border around the canvass.

Job Instructions

  • Upon receipt of a COF and attached canvass:
  • Detach the COF from the canvass
  • Pick a piece of standard construction paper
  • Cut two strips of paper 2 inches wide and 2 inches longer than the width of the canvass
  • Cut 2 more strips of paper 2 inches wide and 2 inches longer than the height of the canvass
  • Tape the 4 strips of paper to the back of the canvass to form a 1-inch border around the entire canvass
  • Using a paper clip, attach the COF to the canvass
  • Deliver the COF and attached landscape to the Accountant.

CLAAP Job Description

Accountant

The CLAAP Accountant is responsible for calculating the total price of each custom landscape and recording the price on the COF. After delivery of the landscape, the Accountant collects the COF for eventual use in the weekly billing process.

Job Instructions

  • Upon receipt of a COF and attached canvass:
  • Calculate and enter the Basic Price in the Canvass Sizing section of the COF
  • Calculate and enter the Option Prices in the Custom Features section of the COF
  • Add the Option Prices to the Basic Price and enter the Total Price on the COF
  • Deliver the COF and attached landscape to the Salesperson.

CLAAP Job Description

Manager (Optional)

The CLAAP Manager is responsible for the overall operation of the business. The Manager drinks coffee and keeps a watchful eye on the other employees.

Job Instructions

  • Be helpful and supportive without performing any of the functions of the other employees.
  • Schmooze with customers and suppliers.

CLAAP Customer Description

Bingo Parlor Manager

As manager of the Big Bucks Bingo Parlor you use the CLAAP landscapes as door prizes for your nightly events. Appearance and inexpensive price are important factors, but your biggest concerns are the superstitions of your bingo patrons. Money-green and heavenly-blue appear to be highly prized by your gray-haired gamblers while black, brown, and red send stamp crazy players stomping out the door. Looking for any edge, the ink-fingered regulars have come to believe the landscape door prizes represent a financial barometer of their nightly fate. You are always on the lookout for supernatural implications, real or imagined, in the CLAAP landscapes.

CLAAP Customer Description

Art Dealer

As an art dealer working within the cutting-edge Post Quality movement you unearth the works of unknown artists, buy at bargain prices, and resell at huge markups to wealthy entertainers, athletes, and leaders of foreign nations. You prize uniqueness and unconventional artistic merit. Controversial pieces with an unintelligible and incoherent message are highly desired. Although most respected art critics have labeled the Post Quality movement as a fly-by-night con game , you and your associates are passionate about both the art and the cash flow.

CLAAP Customer Description

Insurance Agent

As an insurance agent traveling throughout the country, your sales and resulting commissions are directly tied to the number of potential clients you can contact each day. Your supervisor has asked you to take time out of your busy working day to pick up a CLAAP landscape for the outer reception area of the home office. You are not happy about this request. Your only goals are to get the landscape as quickly as possible and make sure the landscape is sturdy enough to survive the overhead compartment on the plane ride home. Your art-loving boss has also requested a receipt for the company-required expense report.

CLAAP Customer Description

Nurse (Optional)

As a nurse in a mobile vaccination center for school children, you use the CLAAP landscapes as cheerful wall decorations. On occasion the landscapes serve as a helpful distraction for the most apprehensive children. Value and child-friendly appearance are your primary motivations for purchasing CLAAP landscapes.

[FK1]AU: Okay to make the customer satisfaction survey a separate form? Should you add the survey form to the list of materials required?