Analyze the business process:

Create a cross$-$functional flowchart for Setterstrom Co$.$s primary value chain process, the sale, manufacture, and distribution of guitar manufacturing equipment.

Create a table to analyze the activities of this process. Specifically, identify if activities provide real value, business value, or no value. Also, record activity times. Provide me the cycle time for delivering equipment to a customer

Describe the efficiency of the current value chain process and identify potential improvements.

This assignment is to be completed digitally $($i$.$e$.$ not hand drawn$).$ Word or Visio provide all of the tools needed to produce the process diagram. The assignment is to be turned in via Blackboard AND in hard copy form. Assignments are due at the start of class. Only one assignment needs to be submitted for both learning partners.

The Order Fulfillment Process for Setterstrom Company:

The Setterstrom Company sells guitar manufacturing equipment to other businesses $($such as Fender and Gibson$).$ To make sure customers purchase the products they need, Setterstrom Co$.$employs trained and knowledgeable sales representatives. Sales representatives also can provide some basic, after$-$sales product training to customers. Setterstrom's sales representatives are integral to the business process.

The process of fulfilling an order begins when a customer places an order for guitar manufacturing equipment through a Setterstrom Co$.$ sales representative. Representatives visit the customer at its location, write up a $($paper$)$ order, generate a paper invoice to the customer, and send the order to Setterstrom's warehouse. Usually, customers remit payment at the time of purchase by writing a check, which the sales rep sends to Setterstrom's accounting department along with a copy of the order for processing. Both the order that is sent to the warehouse and the check$/$copy of the order sent to the accounting department are sent via the postal service. Mail always takes three days to be delivered.

At Setterstrom Co$.$s accounting department, all incoming mail is handled by an administrative assistant. This assistant received his degree from Ohio State University$$s College of Business. As can be expected, incoming mail typically sits in a pile on his desk for three days before he gets around to delivering it to the proper recipients.

Setterstrom's accounting department uses a computer with AccountPro software to track customer orders and to manage its accounting information. Each order is input into AccountPro and customer balances are closely monitored. When a check is received, it gets applied to the customer's order using the AccountPro software and is then scanned and recorded into AccountPro's database. The accountant that works at Setterstrom Co$.$ received her master$$s degree in accounting from Northern Illinois University. Therefore, she is at the top of her game. On average, it takes her one day to complete any given data entry task.

Once the Setterstrom warehouse receives an order from a sales representative, it gets placed in a $$to do$$ pile. The senior warehouse manager used to be a professional guitarist, but his Creed cover band never really took off. In fact, the only reason he took the job at Setterstrom Co$.$ was because his girlfriend kicked him out of her apartment and his parents would not let him move back home. Consequently, orders sit in the $$to do$$ pile for four days. Manufacturing equipment is not kept on hand $($i$.$e$.,$ it is not a stockable product$).$ Any orders from customers requesting equipment are marked 'processing build$$ on the order form. The updated order form is then sent to the manufacturing facility. Order forms are hand delivered to the manufacturing facility on Mondays by the senior warehouse manager. The order forms are not delivered daily, because the manufacturing facility is located across town and the senior warehouse manager thinks that the senior operations manager at the manufacturing facility is a $$tool$,$ so he avoids contact with him as much as possible. Thus, it takes an average of $4$ days to deliver an order to the manufacturing facility.

Upon receiving the order form the senior operations manager at the manufacturing facility notifies the customer of the delivery date estimate, as delivery times for new equipment will vary depending on the current backlog of orders being processes. The operations manager at this manufacturing facility received his undergraduate degree in operations management from NIU, so he is a top$-$notch employee. Consequently, contacting customers only requires a negligible amount of time and is done immediately upon receiving the order. The senior operations manager would then generate a purchase order $($PO$)$ for the parts necessary to complete the equipment build. Since the parts required to manufacture ordered equipment come from multiple vendors, the manager would have to look up the vendor for each part and send $($paper$)$ POs to the appropriate vendors.