Ralston's first decision is how to ship their cereal to Publix without incurring any shipping damage on the cereal boxes. Since they are currently shipping the cereal the standard way, with the cereal boxes in cases, they need to develop a solution that is over and above the norm.

There are three possible avenues that Ralston could use to prevent shipping damage: improved cereal box manufacture, improved packing, and improved handling. Improved cereal box manufacture would mean manufacturing cereal boxes that are resistant or impervious to the usual damage, such as dents, tears, and box separations. Ralston could reinforce the cardboard, making it heavier and denser. This would make the boxes harder to damage but would also make the shipment heavier and more expensive to ship. Since the cerea

l costs under 1 cent to make, the heavier boxes could double the cost of a box of cereal to Ralston. They could switch from packaging their cereal in boxes to packaging it in clear plastic bags. This would lower the cost of packaging the product, but it would also hamper Ralston's marketing, since many people read cereal boxes but few read plastic sleeves. It would also give Ralston a less desirable image, because many cost-cutter cereal brands package their cereals in bags instead of boxes to save money. Ralston could use an innovative new material for their boxes, such as a lightweight flexible polypropylene, but this is likely to boost the cost of the packaging considerably, making it a less desirable choice in terms of profitability. The size of the cereal box could be reduced; this would make the box more dynamically stable, as well as allowing more boxes to be shipped per case, making them less expensive to ship ("10. Packing").

The third way that Ralston could reduce or prevent damage to their cereal boxes is to improve their handling of the boxes. They could mandate new handling procedures, such as "No dropping or throwing of cases." They could also examine the way the cases are being stacked for shipment. Cases packed into the truck should not have any room to move around; they should be packed wall to wall and floor to ceiling or have the excess space taken up with packing materia

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Approximate Word count = 949
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)