British Columbia Box Case Synopsis: This case is about the highly valued purchase decision to be made by management

of BCB, a plant of a larger company. BCB plant, located in Vancouver, produces folded cartons for consumer goods such as beer, toys, etc. Paul Flynn, the Vancouver plant manager, is the main decision maker in this purchase process. We have presented the case by showing various stages of a b2b buying process. Problem Recognition One of the main machines being used in BCB plant is 18 year old gluer folder, which is deteriorating constantly and requires frequent repairs; as a consequence, BCB is facing threat of plant breakdown which would affect beer business. Another major factor is plant expansion; a larger flexo folder gluer machine, 50 x 110, was needed to generate additional sales ($ 1,000,000). General Need Description and Product Specification General need was of a Computer numerical control based machine which can lead to low setup time. Analysis based on 50 x 110 CNC flexo folder gluer showed that: Savings on setup time, from 36mins to 18mins Glue rate, ink rate, and jam detection features would lead to less wastage, less supervision, and a higher quality product. Eliminate existing machines
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Thus, a large CNC machine justifies the volume and type of business which BCB plant is aiming in the near future. Supplier search There were four major equipment manufacturers who maintained technically qualified sales representatives. These sales representatives would constantly keep in touch with BCB management. So, there was no need of extensive supplier search for BCB management. Below are some of the details about key suppliers: 1. Bale: Bale Company was one of the reputed companies in the machine tool industry. The company has recently launched CNC flexo folder gluer and three of these CNC machines were operating in the field. The company promoted the new machine in the trade conferences like TAPPI and also showing videos to clients. Due to this, Bale machine had gained considerable publicity by this time. Bale representative, Dick Bateman, also visited BCB plant in purpose to influence Flynn by providing various price/sizes offerings. He also suggested layout changes to be done in BCB plant in case Bale machine is used. Andrews: This Company had an excellent manually controlled flexo folder gluer and had a reputation of designing good computer controlled equipment. The CNC machine developed by them also had better features than the latest Bale machine. The company promoted the machine mainly through brochures and by visiting BCB plant. Rhone: This Company had lost its reputation for quality products and its CNC machines did not have process monitoring functionality. They were allowed to bid as they were a major manufacturer firm. Kalder: Kalder was ruled out as they did not specialised in CNC machines.

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3. 4.

Proposal Solicitation Upon seeing the threat of plant breakdown, BCB management asked the four major manufactures for serious quotations.

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Supplier Selection Rhone and Kalder were ruled out early as they could not provide the desired output. So the ultimate decision was to be made between Andrews and Bale. The key differences between these two machines are given as: Price: Andrews had 8 more features than Bale, with a price difference of $20,000 which is difficult to justify. Product feature: Andrews had 8 more features than Bale, with more reliable feeder, better wash-up system, but it had less recommended dual panel screen as compared to Bales matrix panel screen. Also, BCBs factory superintendent is in favour of use of Andrews machine. Supplier reputation: Bale is more experienced company than Andrews in terms of production of CNC machines and has its machines operational in the companies with decent track record. While the first CNC machine produced by Andrews was known to be problematic and the second machine is new with no track record. Product reliability: Bale falls bit short here as their CNC machine did not work smoothly as seen during inspection at the BCB plant in Georgia. Andrews received a Good feedback as their CNC machine has added features and on paper it is supposed to perform better than Bale machines. Service Reliability: Bale has an old company and has a decent track record of providing service but the service centre is in Minnesota which is very far away in comparison to service centre of Andrews which is at outskirts of Vancouver. Hence, Bale received a lesser score compared to Andrews. Supply Flexibility: Andrew scores more on this metric because in addition to free installation it is also providing free training for the employees of BCB. The after sale services of Andrews is expected to be better than Bales because of the proximity of its service centre to the BCB plant. Recommendations: We can present our recommendation by doing vendor analysis of above two suppliers.

Price Product feature Supplier Reputation Product Reliability Service Reliability Supply Flexibility

Weightage 20% 20% 10% 20% 20% 10%

Poor(1)

Fair(2)

Good(3) 3(A) 3(B) 3(A) 3(A) 3(B) 3(B) 3(B)

Excellent(4) 4(B) 4(A) 4(B)

4(A) 4(A)

Cumulative Score = Bale = 0.8 + 0.6 + 0.4 + 0.6 + 0.6 + 0.3 = 3.3 Andrews = 0.6 + 0.8 + 0.3 + 0.6 + 0.8 + 0.4 = 3.5 Hence, Andrews is our recommendation seeing the future product needs and service reliability. Also, since Andrews is comparatively new in CNC machine industry, BCB can use this in an advantage by making Andrews signing service agreements for longer terms and by doing future price negotiations.

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