MOTORBUS COMPANY: Que Sera Sera

MOTORBUS COMPANY: Que Sera Sera

                Engineer Hermogenes Ancheta has just received his appointment papers from his new immediate superior, the Vice President for Operations, he has been promoted from Assistant Manager to Manager of the Maintenance Department. After congratulating him, his boss gave him a verbal directive that he should put some order in his department and make it work in the most efficient manner possible.

                Engineer Ancheta has just passed the board examination for Mechanical Engineering when he joined Motorbus Company in 1993. By June 1995, he informed his former classmates at the University of Santo Tomas that he was promoted as Assistant Manager for Maintenance.

                The former manager of the department, Engineer Gaudencio Inductivo, joined the company since it started operation in 1989. A total of ten buses began plying the Manila - Isabela route. A maintenance unit was put up at the Manila terminal in Sampaloc. Another unit serves the Ilagan, Isabela terminal. Each unit has a full-time mechanic and one assistant.

                When a company bus comes in for repair, the mechanic diagnoses the various automotive systems in the bus and later produces a list of parts needing replacement. The mechanic sends the list to Engineer Inductivo, who, in turn, forwards the same to the company accountant for approval of the purchase request. Oftentimes, Engineer Inductive performs the actual purchasing himself. Later, he sends the purchased items to the mechanic who made the request.

                The maintenance unit were operating normally until 40 new busses were procured by the company in 1993. Since then, every maintenance personnel was so busy that they threatened to quit their jobs unless additional mechanics and assistants were recruited. By the end of 1993, each unit has a personnel complement of 5 mechanics and 5 assistants

                Even with current developments, the old method of purchasing was not improved. Purchase requests started to pile up. Mechanics and drivers began complaining to the VP for Operations about delays in the delivery of needed parts.

                The VP for Operations immediately sent a note to Engineer Inductivo ordering that the problem should be resolved immediately. Engineer Inductivo was hard pressed and he could not offer an immediate solution. The next day, Engineer Inductivo informed the VP for operations that he is requesting for the approval of his application for retirement as he is already 62 years old.

                The VP forwarded the request to the President with an endorsement justifying the request. On the same day, the request for retirement was approved. The next day, Engineer Ancheta received his appointment papers promoting him to Manager.

                One of the first things Engineer Ancheta did was to inspect the storage room for parts. He found out that the room was full of an uneven supply of parts. Some parts were of excessive quantities, while some ones were inadequately stocked. A corner of the room contains a big volume of obsolete parts.

                At the end of the day, Engineer Ancheta was informed by the VP that the company will be fielding an additional 50 new buses within 30 days. This will mean that by next month, about 100 buses will be servicing the various routes assigned to Motorbus Company.

                Engineer Ancheta is now mulling over how he will make the operations of his department as efficient and effective as possible.



Answer :

                Engineer Ancheta first asked for the list of mechanic and assistant in their company. Then take the name of best mechanics and best assistant, asked them to come over to the storage area and make a tally of the things in the storage. The senior mechanics or Engineer Ancheta should be the one to write down all the things they have in the inventory. Then segregate the parts according to its name, size and function. Make a design for the storage area, where each parts should be categorized and labeled. The obsolete parts should be sold to the junk shop or to the metal melting company to have a little bit money from it. Then Engineer Ancheta should also review the past transactions to find out what are the parts they should buy or not. He should also promote two of the best performing mechanic to handle the inventory of the storage, accept the list of parts the mechanic will give and buy or receive parts delivered.

                In 1993 they have a total of ((10 + 40 buses) x 5 mechanics)) + ((10 + 40 buses) x 5 assistants)) = 500 maintenance employees, because 1 bus has 5 mechanics and 5 assistants before. After 30 days they will have a total of 100 buses. The allocation of the employee will be ((100 buses x 2 mechanics) + (100 buses x 2 assistants)) = 400 maintenance employees, so 1 bus will have 2 mechanics and 2 assistants. The poor performing maintenance employee should be eliminated to lessen the maintenance cost with regards to the salary.