$[$LO $3-1]3-32$ Complexity of Operations and the Effect on Cost In the mid$-1990$s$,$ a large consumer goods manufacturer moved its customer$-$based department and specialty stores to mass merchandising in a variety of retail stores, large and small. The strategic change required it to increase significantly the complexity of its operations$-$the number of products, prices, discounts, patterns, colors, and sizes. After noticing the firm's expense beginning to rise, the company hired a consultant to study the firm's cost structure. The findings were as follows:

As many as $10$ different vendors provided certain purchased items.

Of the firm's customers after the strategic shift, $98\%$ were responsible for only $7\%$ of total sales volume.

The wide variety of prices, discounts, and promotional programs added complexity to the accounts receivable collection process because of increased disputes over pricing and customer balances.

Seventy$-$five percent of the company sales involved products with five or more color combinations.

Customer demands for fast delivery of new orders had caused a shift in manufacturing to smaller batch sizes and more frequent equipment setups. Thus, total setup$-$related costs increased.

Required What would you advise the company to do$?$