Case Study: Place Your Bets (Capacity Planning)
The Problem
An electronics manufacturer service had invested significant resources into their relationship with a key customer, a professional-grade A/V equipment company, and was concerned whether their capacity planning was realistic. Meanwhile, the equipment company was pushing the manufacturer to expand capacity even further in anticipation of a spike in orders resulting from the release of a new product suite. The manufacturing service’s capacity planning team wanted to find out if they should secure financing to build up capacity or if their customer’s projections were too ambitious.
Critical Issues
Channel Knowledge End-User Perspectives Competitive Assessment
The Solution
The capacity planning team conducted a Maven Electronic Survey of channel resellers, distributors, and large purchasers of the A/V company’s products regarding their perceptions of the company’s product pipeline and future prospects. The results confirmed that the company had a favorable market position, but raised clear concerns about their competitive threats and future prospects, leading them to delay further investment. When demand turned out to be weaker than their customer had forecast, the manufacturer avoided a very difficult situation.
“The customer wanted us to double down on our investment. Instead of rolling the dice we were able to make an informed decision.”
– Chief Executive Officer
