Hearthstone Appliance supplies parts for laundry & kitchen appliances. They have determined the salary expense is $300,000 related to five workers who pick parts from the warehouse and $450,000 of salary expense related to 6 workers who pack the orders for shipment. In the past year, the company filled 150,000 order Based on work performed at a very large auto chain store, it has determined a benchmark of $4 per order.
a. Comment on the advisability of comparing the costs of Hearthstone Appliances to those at an auto supply chain store.
b. Workers go to a box that contains individual customer order sheets. They take the bottom order (the oldest) and go into the warehouse wih a handcart and a box. They then fil the order and carry the parts to a packing station. Can you suggest ways of improving the process?