Subject category:
Production and Operations Management
Published by:
Harvard Business Publishing
Version: 1 December 1997
Length: 15 pages
Data source: Generalised experience
Abstract
Wriston Manufacturing is a broad-line maker of components for the automotive industry. It has developed a network of nine plants as its product line has grown. Newer, higher-volume products tend to be made in newer, focused, high-volume plants, while older product lines tend to be assigned to the Detroit plant, the oldest one in the system. Because Detroit produces such a wide variety of products, its overhead costs are very high. Management needs to decide whether to close the Detroit plant or find a way to make it profitable. A rewritten version of an earlier case.
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Abstract
Wriston Manufacturing is a broad-line maker of components for the automotive industry. It has developed a network of nine plants as its product line has grown. Newer, higher-volume products tend to be made in newer, focused, high-volume plants, while older product lines tend to be assigned to the Detroit plant, the oldest one in the system. Because Detroit produces such a wide variety of products, its overhead costs are very high. Management needs to decide whether to close the Detroit plant or find a way to make it profitable. A rewritten version of an earlier case.