Analysis of Performance and Improvement Strategies for B&A Toys

This report analyzes the performance of B&A Toy Warehouse, identifying key areas for improvement. It examines the current state of order processing, productivity, and employee performance, highlighting shortcomings in staff attendance, warehouse layout, and management training. The report critically analyzes performance against planned objectives, identifies system failures in communication, planning, reporting, and training, and suggests refinements to performance indicators. It then recommends specific performance improvement strategies, including clearly defining performance expectations, establishing leadership, automating tasks, and redefining performance measures. A detailed training and development strategy is presented to address underperforming individuals and teams, including a step-by-step training program. Finally, the report outlines a strategy for reviewing systems, processes, and work methods, emphasizing how the implementation of these strategies will lead to continuous improvement within the warehouse.

Assessment Task 3
Question 1
Area Required corrective action
Time
Average order processing
time
Productivity has to be improved by 10 percent for which a
reduction of order processing time is needed from 80
minutes to 72 minutes. This can be achieved by automating
the order processing process such that some of the
processes become fast and do not need human intervention
(Royal Australasian College of Physicians, 2000)
Cost
Average cost to process an
order
Cost has to be reduced by $20 for processing orders which
would again be reduced with automation as it would reduce
some of the administrative demand and associated costs
(Driscoll, 2016).
Quality
Error rate
The rate of error has to be reduced to 1% and with the
installation and order processing solution in the company,
the processes would become digital and automated which
would reduce the chances of human errors and thus, this
goal can be achieved (Briggs, 2017).
Production
Average number of orders
processed per day
Number of orders processed per day has to be increased
from 50 to 55. With saving on time with the use of order
processing technology, more orders can be handled every
day and thus, this objective would also be achieved (Nyhuis
& Wiendahl, 2008).
Question 2
1. Critically analyse the performance against planned objectives.
a. Identify areas of non-performance.

Staff attendance is very short which reduces their productivity and thus, create a performance gap.
Another gap in performance is due to the faulty layout of the warehouse which makes it difficult to
locate the goods while they have to be taken out as per orders. Also, the managers working in the
warehouse do not have sufficient training and need an intensive coaching as well as guidance from
old employees.
2. Report on systems failures which contributed to these results.
a. Consider failures in communication, planning, reporting and training.
Failure to provide sufficient motivation for attendance of staff and lack of capabilities in managers
are due to the following reasons (ICO, 2006):
 20% of the employees are not given any clear guidance on the performance expectations
 Employees are given clarity on the goals of warehouse as no clear KPIs have been assigned
to warehouse employees
 KPIs are not SMART and thus, expectations from employees on performance are very clear
3. Review performance indicators and refine if necessary.
a. Comment on the suitability of performance indicators and what changes might be
required to achieve organisational goals.
Performance indicators identified include absenteeism, turnover, long service leave liability, annual
leave liability, employee engagement, and employee attended training sessions (Alisha, 2015). The
targets for each indicator and actual results of B&A Toy Warehouse are shown in the table below:
Key Result Area Target Actual
Absenteeism 3% 3.9%
Turnover 8% 9.2%
Long service leave liability $2.0 million $1.8 million
Annual leave liability $1.5 million $1.2 million
Employee engagement 85% 83%
Employee attended training
sessions
45 32
The business plan has a goal of improving warehouse productivity by 10% by reducing order
processing time and cost and reduces errors made by employees in order processing. There are no
metrics among the key metrics that are relevant to reflect upon the order processing performance
related to cost, time and errors. Thus, these metrics would not be sufficient to reach the goal of the
organization. Although absenteeism, turnover, and training metrics could be useful but would not
directly for achieving this goal of the organization. Some metrics can be added specifically related to
order processing to be able to record the performance of employees for achieving the business
goals. These metrics could be individual productivity of warehouse workers and order processing

staff which could be calculated by comparing total order-to-cash process with order-to-cash process
per person and Days Sales Outstanding (Fraser, Manrodt, & Vitasek, 2008).

Question 3
1. Recommend performance improvement strategies.
Performance can be improved by taking following measures:
 Clearly define KRAs and performance expectations of every employee
 Establish leadership and build a leader who keeps the team motivated
 Give recognition and appreciation in kind to employees who are better performers
 Automate some of the tasks in order processing such that employees can perform them
easily without stress
2. Identify and redefine performance measures, if necessary.
In order to achieve the goals of the organization, some of the performance measures provided
already need redefinition such as:
Absenteeism: Unscheduled appearance rate and absent rate per manager can be measures to get
deeper into the metrics. This would help manager track absenteeism in employee during specific
seasons which can suggest problems that have to be looked after. The absent rate per manager can
reveal problems with specific managers.
Turnover: retention rate of star performers and turnover costs can be measured to understand
turnover better. The first of the metrics would help a company understand if the company is able to
retain performing employees while the second measure would reveal if the business is running
effectively.
3. Document a training and development strategy to address the performance of
underperforming individuals or teams.
a. Identify development needs of individuals and groups.
Employees need to develop their skills in warehouse management
b. Identify training/coaching needs.
Employees can be provided with special training on effective warehouse management.
c. Present in a development plan.
STEP 1: A training program would be developed for which topics related to training requirements
would be identified under warehouse management. These topics would include inventory analysis,
warehouse technologies, warehouse optimization, performance analysis, and cost reduction in
warehouse.
STEP 2: A checklist would be created as a summary of topics to be covered in the training program
and trainees would be assigned for the coverage
STEP 3: A training program with topics and expectations would be designed and conducted.
Feedback would be taken on the understanding of employees of the concepts learned
STEP 4: Management would give directions to warehouse employees to use the lessons learned in
practice and an assessment would be taken of each employee

STEP 5: Based on the results of the assessment, the weak areas of professional skill development
would be identified and would be used for coming up with another training program
Question 4
1. Develop a strategy for reviewing systems processes and work methods at B&A Toy
Warehouse.
System processes would be reviewed on the basis of performance reports submitted. Further, the
procedural materials would be assessed to gain an understanding of the performance of work
methods used in B&A Toy Warehouse. There would be different work systems that would have to be
studied and these include information system, service system, and supply chain system.
2. Describe how the implementation of your strategy would lead to continuous improvement.
The strategy would bring continuous improvement in following ways:
 Review of system performance reports would help identify issues in systems such that they
can be resolved
 Understanding efficiencies of work systems would help managers identify issues as well as
scope for improvement
References
Alisha. (2015). CREATING A GREAT PLACE TO WORK. Telstra.
Briggs, S. (2017). Uncovering The 7 Costs To Process An Invoice & What To Do About Them! CloudX.
Driscoll, M. (2016). CUTTING THE COSTS OF SALES ORDER PROCESSING. APQC.
Fraser, J., Manrodt, K., & Vitasek, K. (2008). Improving Order Execution Performance: A Holistic View
of Metrics Across Plant & Warehouse. MESA International.
ICO. (2006). Managing poor performance – policy and procedure. Information Commissioner’s Office
(ICO).
Nyhuis, P., & Wiendahl, H.-P. (2008). Fundamentals of Production Logistics: Theory, Tools and
Applications. Springer Science & Business Media.
Royal Australasian College of Physicians. (2000). WORKPLACE ATTENDANCE AND ABSENTEEISM.
AUSTRALASIAN FACULTY OF OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE.