analyze the order processing, engineering design, and manufacturing processes at Diecraft Australia.
analyze the order processing, engineering design, and manufacturing processes at Diecraft Australia. Access the
Diecraft case study in this week’s Learning Resources. Each student will role-play one of the stakeholders and the group will:
ACRJThis case was prepared byAssociate Professor KannanSethuraman and VisitingProfessor Devanath Tirupatiof the Melbourne BusinessSchool as a basis for class-room discussion rather thanto illustrate either effectiveor ineffective handling ofan administrative or businesssituation.Please address all corre-spondence to: Associate Pro-fessor Kannan Sethuraman,Melbourne Business School,Carlton, Australia, Vic 3053.E-mail:k.sethuraman@mbs.eduASIAN CASE RESEARCH JOURNAL, VOL. 8, ISSUE 2, 187–213 (2004)© 2004 by World Scientific Publishing Co.Diecraft AustraliaOn the morning of May 15, 2002 Mark Jackson, GeneralManager of Diecraft, arrived at the premises of his firm inReservoir, a northern suburb of Melbourne, at 6.30 am.There were several pressing matters that had brought him inquite early on that chilly morning. He poured himself a cupof hot coffee and mulled over the discussions he had hadwith Jim Winthorpe, Vice President, Mould Engineering,Tupperware earlier that week. In their meeting, Mr.Winthorpe not only demanded better delivery schedule ad-herence from Diecraft but was also pressing Jackson to accel-erate the design and delivery efforts for new moulds by morethan a week.Jackson realized that Diecraft had not done particu-larly well with respect to meeting the targeted due dates in2001. More than 70% of the jobs in that year were delayed,and Jackson knew that he needed to find ways to remedy thesituation immediately. He called Geoff Little, his HumanResources Manager, and requested he schedule an emer-gency meeting with key division personnel to discuss thisissue later that afternoon.HISTORY AND BACKGROUNDDiecraft, formerly known as Rabin Engineering, wasfounded by John Rabin in 1953. During the initial years JohnRabin ran his business with just a single machine in his ownbackyard garage in the inner Melbourne suburb of EastBrunswick. From its inception the company developed areputation for high quality and craftsmanship. In order to
188ACRJkeep pace with the increasing demand for his moulds, Rabinbegan employing more people and expanded his range ofmachinery.In 1961 Rabin Engineering was producing very com-plex high quality moulds for the plastic industry and others.During this period Tupperware1, a US-based company, vis-ited Australia to seek out a local firm to make dies andmoulds for its products. It soon found itself in discussionwith Rabin Engineering and, realizing Rabin moulds met itshigh quality requirements, asked Rabin to consider a part-nership with its operation in the US. Tupperware subse-quently purchased Rabin Engineering in 1963, changed thecompany’s name to Diecraft Australia, and in 1965 moved itsoperation to the current premises in Reservoir.In the four decades since its takeover by Tupperware,Diecraft Australia has developed expertise and gained areputation for its manufacturing capability of high-quality,high-precision, close tolerance plastic injection moulds forhouse-ware products (see Exhibit 1 for the product range).Diecraft had a strong functional orientation from its incep-tion, even though some matrix-form had been introducedto the organization in the recent past (see the organizationchart in Exhibit 2A). The managers responsible for func-tional areas such as Finance, Production, Engineeringand Human Resources reported directly to the GeneralManager. The General Manager, an appointment made byTupperware management, acted as a liaison between theVice President, Mould Engineering, Tupperware and Diecraft(see Exhibit 2B).In 2001 Diecraft had sales of A$23 million and em-ployed about 125 people in its modern manufacturing plant.The workforce size was as high as 200 in 1990 and wasbrought down steadily to the current level of 125. This re-duction in workforce size was attributable to automation1Tupperware Corporation, a $1.1 billion multinational company, is one of theworld’s leading direct sellers, supplying premium food storage, preparation andserving items, to consumers in more than 100 countries. Tupperware also offers pre-mium beauty and skin care products, mainly in North America, through itsBeauticontrol brand.
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