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This case describes UMM Bank in Indonesia, a service operation that is working to improve profitability by selling more services to its customers. To achieve this goal it is using a cross-selling approach entitled the Personalized Plan Program (PPP). However, there are several challenges with the PPP initiative. The cornerstone of the PPP is a free, one-on-one meeting between the customer and a bank sales agent, if the customer responds by providing some information online within a 15-day promotional period. But these meetings often must be scheduled after the promotional period, seemingly due to the amount of time the bank's support staff needs to prepare Personalized Plans for customers once they enter their financial information online. UMM Bank sales agents imply that clients are frustrated with the delays and this may be hampering the success of the entire PPP initiative. Students will learn that initiatives like cross-selling can stress a service system's operations. Therefore, it's important to understand the operational levers of capacity, demand management, demand variability, and pooling to help anticipate and overcome these challenges.

Reissco, a Tier 2 automotive supplier of chassis and safety technologies, is being squeezed by retail customers like Auto Zone who demand low prices and high service levels. In this environment, companies like Reissco must be as efficient as possible to survive. So, Reissco decided to outsource its production, closing its last remaining internal production plant. Unfortunately, diminishment of expertise often follows losing internal production, and in the case there is strong evidence that this has happened at Reissco. The company does not seem to understand the real cost drivers and is, therefore, vulnerable to opportunistic price changes by its suppliers. Additionally, Reissco is unable to capture upside benefits when supplier costs go down.

This case asks students to consider questions about where and how to implement Statistical Process Control (SPC) within the fictional Topco Pharmaservices company. Topco's documentation process for outsourcing clinical drug manufacture was experiencing high rates of errors. By constructing and interpreting a p-chart for SPC, students can begin to address Topco's challenges.

Kirk Myers, REI's manager of corporate social responsibility (CSR), has been tasked with finding a way to optimize the organization's rental program while minimizing its environmental impacts. After looking at the data, he found that at times the rental program had major queuing problems - equipment was either not available or wait times were too long. He will have to take into consideration customer experience/service, inventory, revenue, waste, and usage implications when crafting his recommendations. Students are asked to apply the news vendor model and VUT equation to find the best solution.

Miguel Haro, director of Control Systems in Casturn's Transmission Division, had returned to his desk after witnessing an online reverse auction for O-rings. Although supplier training for the event had been rushed, Haro's Global Commodity Manager Mary Konchesky was confident that the event would yield significant cost savings. One bid stuck out from the rest: the incumbent supplier placed a bid that was 70% less than the current price they were charging for Casturn O-rings. Haro knew this seemed too good to be true. A few hours later, Haro's phone rang. It was Konchesky, calling to tell him that she had just finished a call with the incumbent. Haro's suspicions had turned out to be justified. Haro asked himself, "Would auctions ever work at Casturn?"

Despite initial concerns about the electronic reverse auction process, Casturn Director of Control Systems Miguel Haro decided that he was going to put all his weight behind the initiative and ensure that it succeeded, even if it was only to answer all the questions about how to run auctions. After a series of initial missteps, Haro began building a convincing business case for the auctions. A strategic mistake would erode any remaining support for auctions as a sourcing tool.