Management Consulting - Vansh Gupta (M131-19) - 1

Assessment of the Case: Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group | Vansh Gupta (M131-19)
What are the problems faced by SKS Manufacturing?

The consulting team (especially Maria Chen) identified the following problems with SKS Manufacturing:
- Functional silos: The individual managers of different functions were not acting as a team. There was a lack of co-
operation in the company, especially between the manufacturing and sales department. The manufacturing
department complained that the salespeople “dumped” orders towards the end of the quarter. (Maria Chen
suggested to meet with the sales, informational technology managers, etc.)
- Lack of inventory accuracy and integration of applications: A lot of data had to be re-entered when moving from
order entry to the manufacturing system
- Lack of implementation of the formal process: There was a vast difference between the documented work
process and what was done on the shop floor. This was done to avoid computerized systems and adopt short cuts
- The employees had a “computer mistrust”: Again, the case mentions that this was because of out-dated bills of
materials parts list developed by the engineering department (functional silos was the primary concern)
Each of the problems, as mentioned above, points to one central issue, i.e., lack of co-operation between the departments
of SKS Manufacturing. Chen only interviewed Janovich, had she interacted with managers of different functions; she
could’ve understood the absence of cross-functional views across the management
What are the symptoms of these problems?
The symptoms of the problems mentioned above were as follows:
- Critical cash-flow shortage: The company was facing a critical cash flow shortage which led to delayed payments
to many of its suppliers, to service the payroll obligations of the company
- Unable to maintain acceptable customer service levels: They were only shipping 77% of the customer orders on
time
- High inventory levels: The work-in-process inventory was very high, and it had been increasing for the past few
years (Exhibit 1). This poor working capital management was further aggravating the cash flow problem of the
firm
- Bottlenecks in material flow: The process scheduling was not optimal
The consulting team had time pressures, which is why they were only focussing on the symptoms of the problem, and
they were unable to diagnose the underlying problems of SKS Manufacturing effectively. All the goals of Maria Chen were
focussed on addressing the “immediate problem” (i.e., symptoms)
What were the root causes of these problems?
The underlying problem had been the lack of co-operation in the organization. They were not working as a team. The
management seems to be highly focussed on sales. The underlying reasons behind this can be two (the sales team can’t
be solely responsible).
- One, the sales were focussed on just three customers in the automotive sector. Thus, the bargaining power of this
customer is very high, and the salespeople had to follow their orders
- Two, on the surface, it seems that Skidmore favoured sales more, maybe because of his background in this
domain. The case mentions that Skidmore, the president of SKS Manufacturing, was known to “promise the
world” to the customers. Skidmore should be more receptive to other functional areas of the organization as well
Which phase/s, according to you, was not correctly pursued by Chen that forced her into a difficult situation where she
is today?
Although Chen followed the phases of consulting in the respective engagement diligently. A better effort in the following
phases was prudent:
- Solving (identifying and defining) problems- The consultant was unable to determine the real issue of the client. I
am still unaware about the root cause of the problem (above mentioned is just an understanding and opinion) .
The consultant couldn’t respond to the implicit problem of the client (when Chen started to do the same, six
weeks (half of the engagement) had already passed. This hampered all the further stages of the engagement like
effective diagnosis and making recommendations
- Building consensus and commitment- Regular updates were not given to Skidmore, spreadsheet (analysis) faced
resistance. Chen only began to build a relationship with the plant supervisor after one-sixth of the engagement
Management Consulting | Vansh Gupta (M131-19) | 1 | P a g e

was over. The client should have been much more involved than mentioned in the case to ensure that the
recommended solutions are institutionalized across the organization
Management Consulting | Vansh Gupta (M131-19) | 2 | P a g e

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Assessment of the Case: Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group | Vansh Gupta (M131-19)

What are the problems faced by SKS Manufacturing?

Management Consulting | Vansh Gupta (M131-19) | 1 | P a g e

Management Consulting | Vansh Gupta (M131-19) | 2 | P a g e

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