Product details

Firth Industries, a subsidiary of a large New Zealand corporation, sells concrete blocks, pre-stressed concrete forms, and ready-mix concrete to the commercial and retail market. The case centres on the production and distribution of ready-mix concrete to the area serviced by the Wellington Division. General construction activity is down throughout the region and a major contract has just been completed. Corporate headquarters is pressing the Division to improve the efficiency of its delivery trucks. The delivery volume per truck, in Wellington, has been decreasing and is less than that of some of their sister divisions. The number of trucks in the fleet has been reduced, but there is now a debate as to whether they reduced the number too far. The company is described like a manufacturing firm, but the product cannot be inventoried, so it has many aspects of a service firm. This case was sponsored by the Indiana University CIBER Case Collection.