Provide a business report for Marco Benevento, the owner of Benevento Foods, a manufacturer and distributor of food products to hotels and restaurants. As a reminder, Mr. Benevento has received a complaint from one of his customers that several pieces of rubber have been found in one of the baking mixes. The customer is placing all incoming orders on hold until the issue is resolved. Adding to the situation, the annual BRC Food Safety audit is scheduled for the end of the month. Mr. Benevento knows that you are working toward completing your MBA and wonders if there are any techniques you have learned that may help to identify the causes of the quality issue. As you begin to tell him about systems thinking and root cause analysis, he is impressed and asks you to take charge of finding the root cause(s) of the quality issue and to provide him with recommendations for improvements. After reviewing the case, you will compile an additional business report.
An Evaluation of the Dilemma at Benevento Foods: Understanding Cause and Effect and Recommendations for Improvement.
Understanding Cause and Effect
Using a systems approach to evaluate the dilemma at Benevento Foods, address the following in FOUR pages:
1. Develop a robust effect-cause-effect logic tree diagram using the 5-Whys tool to identify the root cause(s) of the quality issue. The diagram itself can be drawn by hand or with software. (Note: Tables are not appropriate; it must be in the form of a diagram.)
2. In addition to the diagram, explain the effect-cause-effect flow leading to the root cause(s). (Reminder: The concept of systems thinking and its associated tools are new to the owner.)
3. Provide an appropriate causal loop diagram to capture the fundamental system behaviors, outcomes, and causes of the quality issue at Benevento Foods. The diagram itself can be drawn by hand or with software. (Note: Tables are not appropriate; it must be in the form of a diagram).
4. In addition to the diagram, explain the causal loop flow of the diagram. (Reminder: The concept of systems thinking and its associated tools are new to the owner.)
5. There are both detail complexity and dynamic complexities at work at Benevento Foods. Through a systems thinking viewpoint, evaluate the complexities that have led to the identified dilemma.
Recommendations for Improvement
You are to provide the owner with a summary of your findings and your recommendations to include the following in approximately TWO pages:
6. Based on your evaluation, summarize the dilemma at Benevento Foods, including the identified root cause(s) of the quality issue and systemic issues that you discovered.
7. Develop a set of at least three immediate recommendations, based on your evaluation, to improve the quality of the product.
8. Develop a set of at least three recommendations for longer-term improvements based on systems thinking.