Vantage Analytics Cannot Meet Demand

Consulting
easy45 min0 submissions
BCG
Scenario

Vantage Analytics (B2B SaaS, India) is turning away orders. Demand runs at 2840 units per week, but the plant cannot keep up, and the sales team reports losing deals to competitors on lead time.

Line capacity by stage (units per week):

StageCapacity
1. Intake and preparation2061
2. Primary processing1413
3. Assembly1786
4. Finishing and dispatch1564

The plant manager has requested ₹189 Cr for new finishing equipment, which would add 661 units per week of finishing capacity. He argues the finishing area "is where the queues are visible".

An external contractor has offered to take overflow work at a 34% cost premium over in-house production, available within six weeks.

Supporting data

options

finishing capex cr
189
outsourcing lead time weeks
6
outsourcing cost premium pct
34
finishing capacity added units
661
demand units per week2840

stage capacity units per week

assembly
1786
primary processing
1413
finishing and dispatch
1564
intake and preparation
2061
Your task

Advise the operations director. Provide:

  1. Analysis — where is the real constraint, and what is the plant's actual throughput?
  2. Risks — of each option under consideration.
  3. Recommendation — what to do, in what order.

Address the plant manager's capex request directly.

Ready to move forward? Up next: Vantage Analytics: Trial-to-paid conversion Dropped 23%Next question
How you'll be graded

100 points, 60% to pass.

  • recommendation25
  • options evaluation20
  • bottleneck analysis30
  • problem structuring25
Hint
Reveal suggested structure
  1. Throughput = the capacity of the slowest stage. Identify it.
  2. Quantify the gap between demand and that constraint.
  3. Test each option against the constraint — capacity added anywhere else is wasted.
  4. Cost per unit of added throughput for each option.
  5. Recognise the constraint moves once the current one is relieved.