Week 1

On Monday, we downloaded the programs "BPG5" and "SmartFTP Client" for the BDS. Mrs. Durdana Rizvi taught us how how to download the files from SmartFTP Client and how to upload the decisions. She also told us how critical it is to upload the right files to the right quarters/area. If we, for any reason mess up, the decision will made will not be taken, and the decision from the previous quarter shall be taken instead.

The following days, we focused on the decisions that we will imply in the Marketing and Production fields.

In the Marketing perspective, we decided increase our advertising in Merica 1 and 3 from $40-$45, in Merica 2 from $46-$50, and finally in Sereno from Lc105-Lc125. By doing that, we are creating more awareness of the existence of our brand, which will in turn boost the sales of our products in those markets.

To further increase our sales in Sereno (because we gain more profit per unit there than in any of the three Merica's) we decided to increase the commission of the salespeople from Lc60-Lc70. We also decided to increase our investment in the R&D from the previous quarter from $72-$80, and increased the amount invested in training new staff from $68-$75.

In the production perspective, we had many arguments regarding how many lines to operate, whether to open a new line, or a new plant, or not (as well as deciding workign the workers overtime or hiring new staff for a second shift.) After discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each, we decided that for this quarter, we will produce 312,000 units, utilizing the six lines provided in Merica 2 and working the staff 42 hours a week (2 hours overtime a week.)

We also decided to construct two new lines in Merica 2, and a new plant with four lines, with two of them being active.