Bryman Group

This report focuses on the underlying causes of the aforementioned issues, dealing with waiting time, scheduling, and quality control. By carrying out a waiting line analysis of the system, we were able to propose a strategy that reduced drivers' idle time, as well as the total cost of the system. In addition, qualitative and quantitative study of quality control and scheduling issues allowed us to evaluate their current system against our proposed model.

Based on our thorough analysis, we were able to provide appropriate recommendations regarding the potential ways to increase the efficiency of Brymag's business practices. In order to minimize idle time, we propose that the company decrease the average loading time of the trailers by implementing a more efficient way of unloading the skids. By having each forklift operator categorize and mark the skids being unloaded based on their destination, we intend to decrease delays and mistakes associated with placing the skids in the wrong trailer. Even though in this scenario unloading time will have to increase on average by 8.5 minutes, we believe the benefits of decreasing the loading time and therefore drivers' idle time by 16 minutes far outweigh the costs associated with increasing the unloading time.

Given the volatile nature of Brymag's orders and deliveries due to a range of unpredictable and uncontrollable issues such as heavy traffic, border controls and customer delays, we believe that the implementation of a fixed schedule such as ours may be hard to follow. In ideal circumstances, however, where such constraints would not exist, our proposed schedule would greatly benefit the process by reducing possible lateness.

Further investigation of Brymag's quality control of business processes gave evidence of the minimal effects that damaged skids have on the company's operations and revealed a solid system already in place. Throughout our paper we focus on problems hindering Brymag's success and provide appropriate solutions.

Company Background:

Brymag group is a family-owned business which was founded in 1992 by Robert Magyar. As the owner and founder of the company, he started out with only two trucks delivering freights to various parts of Quebec, and since then the business has developed immensely.

From its inception to its current standpoint, the company has experienced tremendous growth: starting with a mere 5 employees and growing to 100, from 2 trucks to almost 50 trucks, and from covering only Quebec to covering most of North America. Now, Brymag's long-term clientele include such well-known companies as Quebecor Inc, Transcontinental Printing Inc, and News America.

According to Mr. Robert Magyar, president of Brymag, the key to the company's success is the strong focus on customer service. Brymag considers their loyal customers their biggest asset, putting their interests first and foremost. The company has realized that in the business of large-scale distribution, mistakes are inevitable. As a result, the company has adopted a proactive approach in order to minimize errors and prepare itself. Brymag wants to give its customers options to meet their criteria in the rare cases when mistakes occur.

Brymag Group specializes in delivering printed matter, which differentiates the company from other transport companies in the field that deliver FAKs, or "freight of all kinds". As a result of these specializations, Brymag considers itself a distribution company rather than a transport company, and views itself as an extension of its clients rather than that of an independent company.

Brymag's biggest disadvantage of specializing in printed material; such as inserts, fliers, TV guides, and catalogues, is the time sensitivity of the freight, which has to be delivered by a certain date.

Its biggest advantage of focusing on only one type of freight is increased productivity. It takes a shorter period of time to unload/load the freight since it is only one type of product as opposed to a freight that consists of various types of products.

Brymag is open seven days a week, five of which are open for 24 hours. However, even when their offices are closed, there is a continuous amount of work being completed: trucks are delivering freights, and dispatch is incessantly communicating with the drivers either through a "mike" system and/or through blackberries installed in most of the trucks.

Procedure:

In completing this project, it was necessary to gain a general understanding of the trucking industry as a whole and subsequently the context in which Brymag is operating. We did so with the use of a number of online media, including Global Market Information Databases, Yahoo! Finance, and various other secondary resources.

Primary sources included four personal interviews with Brymag spokespersons. An initial interview with the founder and president of the company, Robert Magyar, gave us insight into the firm's corporate vision and its business strategies. It provided us with a clear perspective on the nature and size of the company and highlighted some of its key strengths and weaknesses.

A second interview with crew chief Gary Trace outlined a typical day at Brymag, taking us through the process of loading and unloading the trucks as they arrived. Mr. Trace offered pertinent information regarding the limitations of the current operating system at Brymag as well as voicing the views and attitudes of many of the lower-level workers. The crew chief was interviewed a second time on November 9th 2005 to confirm previous information gathered and to have specific questions answered regarding the number of workers on the floor, their work schedules and wage rates. Figures such as these proved to be critical in our analysis, as will be discussed later.

A final interview with Brymag's Operations Manager in the US - Dino Pomilio Ð'- elicited the top-management view of the company. By discussing issues raised by crew members with an upper level manager, we were able to gain insight into how the "hands" of the company operated (i.e. floor staff) as well as how its "brain" worked (i.e. management). We attempted to reconcile these two views in this report.

In the process of collecting all the necessary information, three group field trips were made to Brymag's main office located at 505 Meloche in Dorval. These trips consisted mainly of observing the work of the floor-staff at the main warehouse, examining the loading and unloading of freight within the facilities and surveying the organization and categorization of cargo on the floor.

Throughout the