John is the best mechanic in a 50-mile radius. He lives in the small town of Oxbow,
Question:
John is the best mechanic in a 50-mile radius. He lives in the small town of Oxbow, Texas. In fact, all the towns within fifty miles of Oxbow are small, with approximately 1,500 residents each. Most businesses survive in this region because competition is scarce. Not all the towns have every convenience. There may be a theater within a cluster of three towns within thirty miles of each other or a major grocery store in one town while the others have small convenience stores. No one is sure how this process developed; however, it has ensured a respectable living for those in the country.
John's automotive repair shop benefitted from this type of arrangement. His business has been steady for several years with a strong customer base from four towns in the area. However, Max opened an automotive repair shop six months ago in Knuckle Falls, Texas, and is competing for the same customer base. At first John was not worried. He had a solid reputation as a good mechanic, and he never gouged anyone. However, as the months slowly passed, John noticed that some of his regular customers stopped coming in for routine maintenance such as oil changes and brake jobs. Some others with major repair needs were going to Max as well.
John was a good businessperson and knew he needed to stem this flow of customer defections quickly. He went to the local community college and talked with a business professor about the situation. One thing John understood was that he needed data so he could analyze the problem, develop solutions, and make effective decisions. John had read about programs such as Six Sigma. Although he was not familiar with it, he did realize that it meant to identify a problem, collect data, analyze the data, and develop alternative solutions. Then, he could select the best solution, implement it, and then circle back around and see how effective it was. Six Sigma has a lot of tools John can use.
Be the community college professor in Oxbow, Texas, and explain which tool or tools you would use and in what order.
What would each tool enable John to do?
Expert Answer:
As a community college professor in Oxbow Texas I would recommend the following tools from the Six Sigma methodology to help John address his business challenge Problem Statement The first step is to ... View the full answer
