The Case Analysis Section: Analyses of the National Cranberry Cooperative I. Tactical Options

We initiated this section in the Nov-Dec 1989 issue of Interfaces with the publication of the National Cranberry Case and an invitation to submit analyses by May 1, 1990. We promised to “review the reports, select and edit the best sections from them, prepare a commentary, and publish the results.” Here are those results, which include edited analyses from each of the six formal submissions, with authorship specified in each pertinent section. The article also includes numerous additional analyses, either prepared specially for this article by the author or based on unpublished existing analyses known to the author. The results appear in two parts. This, the first., takes the environment as fixed and focuses on tactical options available. The second part expands the analyses to consider changes in the environment and implementation issues. Overview of the Case and the Analyses Receiving Plant No. 1 (RPl) of the National Cranberry Cooperative (NCC) faces two primary problems: (1) Trucks and drivers have to spend too much time waiting to unload process fruit into the receiving plant, and (2) Overtime costs are out of control. There is also a secondary problem: Half of the berries graded as top quality, and awarded a fifty cent premium per barrel (bbl.), are not top quality and do not deserve the premium. The Operations Research/Management Science OR/MS approach to problem solving is to seek more than one cause, to seek alternative ways to alleviate the problems, and to seek numerical measures to evaluate the alternatives. It also emphasizes looking at the big picture.