Business and Industry Background

1.
Business and Industry Background

This section describes the business of the project sponsor, summarizes various information pertaining to
the rationale for undertaking the project, and identifies the potential value for completing this project. The
information in this section will provide the basis for several sections in the Business Case.
A. Business Background
B. naack L.L.C. was the first to offer national distribution of jobsite storage boxes in Chicago,
K
Detroit, and many other large cities, where they soon became the standard in the industry for tool box
manufacturing. Distribution grew reaching all 50 states in the U.S. and Canada; in late 2000s Mr. Knaack
and his partners felt that growing the business to the next level would require substantial resources. So
eventually they sold the business from Emerson to Werner in order to gain the strength and resources of
a Fortune 150 Company. Knaack L.L.C. joined Werner where Knaack continues to operate as a separate
entity with the same mission. Over the past 45 years, Knaack L.L.C.'s facility has grown from a
2,000-square-foot shop to currently 400,000 where their brand name is "The most trusted name in jobsite
security". Need Second Paragraph on focusing on background information pertaining to specific
nature of project.
C. The purpose of this section is to list formal objectives or goals of the sponsoring
business. This information is essential based on the notion: “Projects that are directly aligned
with corporate objectives tend to add more value to the business.” An initial analysis and
discussion of these objectives will be explored in Section 2F, while this section should contain a
simple listing of all objectives.
[Due to the limited scope of most capstone projects, teams may need to identify departmental
and annual objectives for an individual manager to clearly illustrate how the project aligns with
business objectives. An example showing how the various levels of objectives support one
another in a cascading manner is illustrated in Figure 3.2 of “The Six Sigma Handbook: 3e,”
written by Pyzdek and Keller.]
Identify the objectives for the business partner using a bullet point list. If several levels of
objectives are presented, teams should use separate lists or a multilevel list to distinguish
business, departmental, or various individual objectives.
● Improve customer service

● Improve data scrubbing
● Improve customer code accuracy
● Improve van market shares
D. Industry Background
Identify relevant information about competitors that may support the importance for undertaking this
project. With regard to a SWOT analysis, teams need only document those Opportunities and Threats
that are relevant to the importance of this project.
Strengths
1. Increasing sales for the last five years by a substantial rate
2. 88% of products are manufactured at their Crystal Lake site
3. 90% of their products come from stock instead of custom
4. They have strong brand in Weather Guard
Weaknesses
1. Poor shipping accuracy
2. Lack of data scrubbing
3. Custom codes are not consistent
4. Lack of options on when customizing a product
Opportunities
1. Improve on customer service
2. New Warner Co.
3. Retail sales
4. Van products
Threats
1. Customer requirements are getting stricter
2. Competitors (Job Box)
3. Niche market
2. Process Overview

This section explores several questions about the process being improved or developed. These questions
(except subsection C) are illustrated for a purchasing process example on pages 66-68 of “Six Sigma for
Green Belts and Champions” written by Gitlow and Levine.
A. What is the name of the process?

● CRM Scrub Process
B. What is the purpose of process?

● Investigate and prepare data so it can be used in real time on dashboard.
C. High-level Flowchart of Current Process

Provide a brief description of the current process for which an improved process will be developed.
Include a high-level flowchart and indicate the project scope with a dashed line when doing so contributes
to a better understanding of the project boundaries.
Figure 1: Placing an order
{Take / place order} → {Receive confirmation} → {Receive ASN} → {Receive product} → {Pay
invoice}
Figure 2: M-2-S Manufacturer
{Produce Product} → {Inventory / store stock} → {Receive Invoice}
A customer will place an order through Knaack through phone or email. Knaack will then then
place the order through its distributor. Once the order is placed and the customer credentials
are verified, the customer will receive confirmation and a customer number. The customer will
then receive an advanced shipping notification. The customer will then receive the product or be
notified if one of their products is backordered. The customer will then check the products and
make sure their is no damage and all products are their. The customer then has the chance to
place a customer complaint. Finally once the customer is satisfied they will then make a
payment.
Figure 1: OMIS 498 Course Structure for Spring 2012
D.
Why do the project at all?
Briefly describe the problem associated with the process and p rovide objective data that supports the
existence of the problem. While data driven decisions is a core principal of Six Sigma, excessive data
analysis is often cited by Six Sigma critics. Providing some objective data is an important aspect for a
good project selection process that focuses on projects addressing verified quality problems.
Describe and support the problem in 1-2 paragraphs. Teams must present objective data
that support the existence of a problem unless otherwise approved by the instructor. Even if the
8project involves a completely new process, there should be some data supporting its need.
While some business sponsors have data available for this purpose, many sponsors may not
have any historical data. Under those circumstances, the initial report should share the
manager’s perceptions and anecdotal stories. Using a data collection plan developed by the
project stakeholders, team members should collect some data and present the results in the
Business Case. All results should be reported using charts or tables when possible.
Downloaded excel reports show that there is a brief explanation of objective data exist and that
there was a problem where data is missing or incorrectly inputted. If there was no overview of
reports than the problem they have through their system would not have been otherwise noted.
E.
Why do the project now?
Briefly describe the consequences for postponing this project to a later date. Why is it urgent to complete
this project? What are the opportunity costs associated with this project? If this project was selected
simply because it was a good project for our class, then teams should attempt to explain why this project
was selected instead of another project. This information will provide a basis for the Project Rationale
and Project Valuation sections of the Business Case. One piece object data nobody can qualm about
system didn’t pull in product missing part number some of it has no data at all or wrong data.
Quarterly basis 8 hrs or more and has idea of how many problems there is and that alone allows
them to stay away from dashboard.
Present this information using a brief paragraph. Detailed analysis or excessive data may be
placed in an appendix.
F.
What business objectives are supported by this project?
Strategic alignment of a project with core business objectives listed in Section 1B is another key aspect of
Six Sigma. If the project appears to align with only a single manager’s annual objectives, then attempt to
trace that objective back through the hierarchy to one of the strategic level objectives.
Present your synthesis using 1-2 paragraphs.

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