Exsellerate (Pvt) Ltd

Being smarter about production inputs and materials 1

Shazib E. Shaikh, Associate Professor, KSBL

Aurangzeb Alamgir, Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Exsellerate (Pvt.) Ltd, sighed heavily as he
signed off yet another expensive purchase order for plywood. The rising inflation caused by increased
petrol prices and heavy devaluation of the rupee against the dollar was continuing to take its toll now,
two months following the June 2019 budget. His company specialized in brand-activation and “below-
the-line” (BTL) marketing and was respected by employees for the generous bonuses they gave out
every year. However, this year there was no bonus and some staff had also been let go.
Now Aurangzeb sat with Khadim A. Aala (a manager from the CNC machining department) to see if
an analysis of raw materials management could not only lead to better production efficiency, but also
inform pricing negotiations with clients such as Unilever, Pepsi and P&G. Aurangzeb was doubtful.
Khadim was positive – but could he demonstrate real insights to his boss?

Background
Exsellerate (Pvt) Ltd. was a long-established, but small, family-owned company. It was in an uphill
struggle to fight off competition from cheap, one-person contractors. It had achieved quite a
prestigious client list (with sizable orders from Unilever, P&G, Pepsi and Engro). The business had
scaled quite a lot in the last years and was now proving difficult to manage. Sales offices were in
multiple cities, but the main operations were at the Head Office in Lahore.

A smarter look at production?

Being smarter about raw materials management was proving challenging. Although they had a
decade-old enterprise system that was meant to coordinate processes across the organization and
centralize all data, it was unhelpful in giving analysis of raw material usage (bar-code scanning of raw
material at each stage did not exist). The CNC machining department, specifically, consumed some of
the most expensive raw materials (wood and plastic). It produced merchandising fixtures such as
gondola shelving and signage, often placed at strategic locations in retail chains for brand activation
and sales promotion. Standard raw material usage was difficult to implement as each job order was
highly customized for specific marketing campaigns.
Khadim had recently compiled a Microsoft Excel worksheet listing all manually-entered job data for
two router machines over the last eight months (excerpt in Exhibit 1). The objective of the meeting
was to see if reports summarizing material usage and machine utilization could highlight any wastages
or excessive overtime (outside 9am-5pm). There was also a need to report back to clients about their
material usage per job. Without this, Exsellerate was on the back-foot defending its higher margins.
Aurangzeb was doubtful: manual data-entry was not very reliable. Khadim was hopeful: he knew
management had no other timely analysis available. Which side would the camel settle?

1
The scenario, company and persons in the case have all been disguised. The data was provided by a real-life company going through these true events.
However, many assumptions and simplifications exist to customize the scenario for teaching and learning purposes.
Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management.
 Exhibit 1 – Excerpt from CNC Machining Department jobs Excel sheet data for last 8 months
Exsellerate (Pvt) Ltd: Being smarter about production inputs and materials

No Date_Received Week Job_Order Client Name Job Manager IN_New/Waste IN_Unit IN_Size_Sqft IN_Quantity IN_Total Sqft IN_W IN_H Consumed SqFt MACHINE ID Operator Name Job Time (Mins) Time_StartCutting
1 01-Dec-18 1 72124 Gam Corporation Ahmed New Acrylic Milky 2mm 24 1 24 48 72 24 01_Router Rizwan 30 10:00
2 04-Dec-18 1 2497 Huawei Kamal Waste Foam Board 5mm 32 2 64 96 96 64 01_Router Rizwan 120 3:00
3 04-Dec-18 1 71927 Honda Zeshan Waste Foam Board 8mm 32 2 64 96 96 64 01_Router Rizwan 120 5:00
4 04-Dec-18 1 170 PSO Kamal New Foam Board 8mm 32 2 64 96 96 64 01_Router Rizwan 120 7:00
5 05-Dec-18 1 3670 Honda Zeshan New Acrylic Color 8mm 24 1 24 48 72 24 01_Router Rizwan 90 9:30
6 05-Dec-18 1 2497 Huawei Kamal Waste Foam Board 5mm 16 2 32 96 48 32 01_Router Rizwan 40 11:00
7 05-Dec-18 1 2497 Huawei Kamal New Foam Board 5mm 32 1 32 48 96 32 01_Router Rizwan 60 12:00
8 05-Dec-18 1 71797 Huawei Kamal New Acrylic Color 4mm 24 2 48 96 72 48 01_Router Rizwan 120 2:30
9 05-Dec-18 1 12047 parint Pes Ahmed Waste Foam Board 4mm 4 1 4 24 24 4 01_Router Rizwan 10 4:30
10 05-Dec-18 1 72183 Pepsi Adeel Shah Waste Foam Board 5mm 24 1 24 48 72 24 01_Router Rizwan 40 5:00
11 05-Dec-18 1 72183 Pepsi Adeel Shah New Foam Board 5mm 32 1 32 48 96 32 01_Router Rizwan 30 5:40
12 05-Dec-18 1 72183 Pepsi Adeel Shah Waste Acrylic Milky 10mm 4 2 8 48 24 8 01_Router Rizwan 50 6:10
13 05-Dec-18 1 72183 Pepsi Adeel Shah New Acrylic Milky 10mm 24 1 24 48 72 24 01_Router Rizwan 180 7:00
14 06-Dec-18 1 72183 Pepsi Adeel Shah New Foam Board 5mm 32 4 128 192 96 128 01_Router Rizwan 240 9:20
15 06-Dec-18 1 72183 Pepsi Adeel Shah New Acrylic Milky 10mm 12 1 12 24 72 12 01_Router Rizwan 30 2:00
16 06-Dec-18 1 72183 Pepsi Adeel Shah New Acrylic Milky 10mm 24 1 24 48 72 24 01_Router Rizwan 180 2:30
17 06-Dec-18 1 72240 Pakistan Mobile Adeel Shah Waste Foam Board 8mm 8 2 16 48 48 16 01_Router Rizwan 30 5:30
18 06-Dec-18 1 72049 MIB Kamal Waste Foam Board 8mm 32 1 32 48 96 32 01_Router Rizwan 30 6:00
19 06-Dec-18 1 72049 MIB Kamal Waste Foam Board 8mm 32 1 32 48 96 32 01_Router Rizwan 30 6:30
20 06-Dec-18 1 68835 Riwaj Adeel Shah New Acrylic Clear 8mm 32 1 32 48 96 32 01_Router Rizwan 60 7:00

2
21 06-Dec-18 1 3670 Honda Zeshan New Acrylic Color 8mm 24 1 24 48 72 24 01_Router Rizwan 60 8:00
22 06-Dec-18 1 72183 Pepsi Adeel Shah New Acrylic Milky 10mm 24 1 24 48 72 24 01_Router Rizwan 60 9:00
23 07-Dec-18 1 72347 Gam Corporation Ahmed New Acrylic Milky 2mm 24 7 168 336 72 168 01_Router Rizwan 240 9:20
24 07-Dec-18 1 72345 Engro Zeshan Waste PVC 8 1 8 48 24 8 01_Router Rizwan 10 3:40
25 07-Dec-18 1 12032 Walk in Customer Kamal Waste Foam Board 10mm 16 1 16 48 48 16 01_Router Rizwan 30 4:00
26 07-Dec-18 1 72183 Pepsi Adeel Shah New Acrylic Milky 10mm 24 1 24 48 72 24 01_Router Rizwan 90 4:30
27 08-Dec-18 2 72183 Pepsi Adeel Shah New Acrylic Milky 10mm 24 1 24 48 72 24 01_Router Rizwan 240 9:10
28 08-Dec-18 2 72228 Pepsi Adeel Shah New Acrylic Clear 10mm 32 1 32 48 96 32 01_Router Rizwan 40 2:10
29 08-Dec-18 2 72183 Pepsi Adeel Shah Waste Acrylic Milky 10mm 16 1 16 48 48 16 01_Router Rizwan 90 3:30
30 10-Dec-18 2 72296 Gam Corporation Ahmed New Acrylic Milky 2mm 24 7 168 336 72 168 01_Router Asim 240 9:30
31 10-Dec-18 2 72306 Unilever Zeshan Waste Acrylic Color 8mm 9 1 9 36 36 9 01_Router Asim 30 2:30
32 11-Dec-18 2 12064 Walk in Customer Ahmed Waste Acrylic Milky 3mm 16 1 16 48 48 16 01_Router Asim 20 9:30
33 11-Dec-18 2 12064 Walk in Customer Ahmed Waste Acrylic Milky 10mm 16 1 16 48 48 16 01_Router Asim 90 10:10
34 11-Dec-18 2 12064 Walk in Customer Ahmed New PVC 24 1 24 48 72 24 01_Router Asim 30 11:40
35 11-Dec-18 2 72394 Levis Zeshan New Acrylic Clear 4mm 24 2 48 96 72 48 01_Router Asim 50 2:10
36 12-Dec-18 2 72398 Pepsi Adeel Shah New Acrylic Clear 4mm 24 6 144 288 72 144 01_Router Rizwan 270 9:30
37 12-Dec-18 2 72434 Gam Corporation Ahmed New Acrylic Milky 2mm 24 1 24 48 72 24 01_Router Rizwan 30 3:40
38 12-Dec-18 2 72347 Gam Corporation Ahmed New Acrylic Milky 2mm 24 2 48 96 72 48 01_Router Rizwan 60 4:10
39 12-Dec-18 2 72306 Unilever Zeshan Waste Acrylic Color 10mm 8 1 8 48 24 8 01_Router Rizwan 30 5:10
40 13-Dec-18 2 72463 Pepsi Adeel Shah New Foam Board 5mm 32 4 128 192 96 128 01_Router Rizwan 180 10:10
41 13-Dec-18 2 72463 Pepsi Adeel Shah New Foam Board 5mm 32 2 64 96 96 64 01_Router Rizwan 50 2:10
Exhibits