Problem: How are we doing?

Spicer Paper Inc. was faced with an elemental problem of measuring basic productivity. Spicer is a distributor of high-end paper products to the printing industry. Based in Australia, it has sales of about $1 billion, a third of which are in the U.S.

According to Richard Maron, general manager of distribution and warehousing at U.S. HQ in Santa Fe Springs, California. The Spicers operation is fairly complex. Working out of six locations in the western U.S., it ships product in a variety of ways, including cartons, skids, boxes, and gigantic rolls. But when Maron arrived at Spicer, he had no way of assessing the productivity of its warehouse and delivery personnel.

Granted larger companies would have automated software to calculate a measurement of operations that could be spilled into spreadsheets and management reports however, Spicer does not have those systems in place.

Your task, you work for Maron and he has tasked you with the following assignment:

1. You have a 30 day window to provide a solution

2. How can we measure productivity at each U.S. location

3. The assigned managers must be able to produce the data in 30 minutes

4. What data / information would you measure, what would you require the other managers to provide to you and how would you report the results?