The Case of The Broken Glassware

ZEN Glass Products (ZGP) was a well-known company into the manufacture of a variety of
glassware products. It had a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Mumbai and had an
extensive distribution network with warehouses at Pune, Nashik, Surat and many other places
across the country.
Following the Japanese management system, the company always ensured that consignments
were sent to the warehouses, Just in Time.
It was the month of August and amidst the sound of heavy rain, Sachin, the General Manager
of ZGP could hear his phone ringing. Prashant, the warehouse manager at Pune was on the
line.
“Well, Sachin, this is regarding the broken glassware issue that I wrote to you about, last
week.”
“Once again, several boxes of the consignment that you sent on Saturday have been returned
back to us, since the glassware was cracked and broken.” I think we need to attend to this
issue immediately, since this is affecting our image with our dealers and also our customers.”
Added Prashant.
Let me discuss the matter with our materials manager Parag and then I will get back to you
immediately.” Said Sachin before keeping down the phone.
This was the fourth time in the past two months that such a thing had occurred. The first time
it happened was around two months back, on July, 19, 2020, after that on the 26 July, then on
01August and now on 22 August, 2020.Never before had such a thing occurred anywhere and
even now, breakages were reported only from Pune warehouse and not from any other
warehouse.
Sachin was in deep thought. He immediately fixed up an offline meeting with Prashant and
Parag, at 11 A.M. in his office on coming Saturday, and also asked them to be ready with all
the information and come with necessary facts and figures relevant to the issue.
The meeting began two hours later than scheduled. “I am sorry,” apologized Prashant “I
forgot that the creek bridge at Vashi remains closed for road repairs on Saturdays and
Sundays, since past three months, and the only alternate route via Thane had an extremely
bad patch of road full of potholes.” Added Prashant, explaining for the delay in his arrival.
The meeting went on till late evening with lot of points coming up from each of them. But a
solution was still far away. Nothing much was done apart from blaming each other, and
jotting down certain facts and figures regarding the same.
Prashant carefully noted down all the points and read out for others.
1. In June, there was a labour problem at Pune warehouse and so starting from July, new
contract labour was employed at Pune for unloading the boxes.
2. The unloading record showed that the damaged glassware was from those boxes which
were placed towards the rear end opening of the truck.
3. Breakages were reported only from Pune warehouse and not from any other warehouse.
4. July and August consignments sent to Pune warehouse were on July 4, 6, 11, 16, 19, 24
and 26 and on August, 01, 07, 13 and 22.
5. Breakages had taken place on July 19, after that on 26, then on 01 August and now the
latest on 22 August, 2020.
6. A new packaging material from Star Packaging Co. Ltd. Was introduced and used for
packing the glassware into the boxes, starting from 8 July, 2020.
7. The regular transportation routes followed by the transporters were Mumbai to Pune via
Vashi, Panvel, Khopoli, and Khandala and Mumbai to Nasik via Thane, Igatpuri, and Kasara
ghat. Both these routes had several dangerous patches of road and skidding of vehicles in the
ghat section, during rains was common.
8. National Co. had been the single carrier company for all over India delivery since a long
time. But after July 13, 2020, the transport carrier company for Pune and Nasik warehouses
was changed to Roadstar Carrier Company due to certain reasons.
9. As compared to National Carrier Co., Roadstar had larger but older trucks with much more
overhang beyond the rear tyres, so as to offer larger carrying capacity.
Everyone was in deep thought. There were a lot of possible causes for the breakage, but
nothing came out clearly as a single major contributing factor i.e. the core problem.
So, finally, what is the core problem?
Issues for Discussion:
1. Diagnose the case carefully, identify and isolate the core problem.
2. How will you resolve the problem of damages?