What would you do? (INTRICT)

This week in Intrict Class, Sir Oli tossed us a problem that puzzled us for at least the whole 1 hour and 30 minutes of the duration of the class. Here's the scenario. Sir Oli is an owner of a big company, a company that makes coconut juice to be exact. He is having problem with his products because he is losing a lot of income due to the spoilage of the coconut juices. If you were the company consultant what questions would you ask him in order to help you solve the problem?


We all thought that the asking part was quite easy. But after asking about 13 questions, he told us that none of them were even close in getting us to solve the problem. Here are some questions we've asked
1.) Where do I get the raw materials?
2.)How do I transport the coconut?
3.)Where do I store the coconut?
4.)How many coconuts do I get? What I order?
5.)How long does it take to transport the coconut?
6.)How long does the process of making coconut juice take?
7.)How many coconuts do I process in a day?
8.)How many coconut juice are being stored?
9.)What do I currently use (equipment) to produce coconut juice?
10.)How long does it take me to deliver?
11.)How much do i buy the coconuts and how much do i sell them as juices?
12.)How much sales do I make in month?
13.)How much do i lose for spoilage?

Well, it's sad that none of our efforts was even close. At least we tried right? :)


In order to solve a problem in a company, we have to stay close in the problem instead of exploring away from it. Questioning is one good method of collecting data in order to solve a problem of a company. So here is a question that was called "perfect question" by Sir Oli. "What day, month, year do the juice usually spoil?" This question is really essential in order to get closer in solving the problem. With this, we would know when do the coconut juices usually spoil and would be able to avoid losing lots of income. It is also our part where we would integrate technology in order to help the company. We also have to learn whether which system or systems does the problem occur. Basically, in this scenario, the problem occurs in the inventory, production and Sales. The problem occurs because of the lack of communication of these systems. Sales doesn't have a clear view and knowledge about the number of products that has been produced and stored. So we have to integrate a technology in these systems in order for them to work together by communicating to each other. This way, we could avoid spoilage and lose of income. This is basically the main solution to this problem. There are other different solutions with different approaches in solving this problem. So if you were one of us, what would you do?