Quadeisha D DanielsVanessa G Dripaul

Anne M GageMichael P Glynn

MGS 3040-05Chapter 9GROUP A

Introduction3M Company develops and manufactures

diversified products for many industries3M is a global company with different

business divisions that focus on different industry segments

3M has 12 sales offices and 185 more offices internationally

3M revenues totaled $ 23 billion in 2006,with a net income of $3.85 billion

3M employed 75,000 employees in 2006

Question 1: Assume you are a U.S. customer. Access the 3M site and locate the MSDS for the product having the 3M ID # 62-1838-5430-6. What is the

product? What is the purpose of the MSDS

The 3M™ Scotch-Weld™ Epoxy Adhesive 1838 Green B/A, 1 pt Kit, 6 per case

Question 1 continued :What is the purpose of the MSDS?

MSDS= Material Safety Data Sheet is a form containing data regarding the properties of a particular substance

It is an important component of workplace safety

It provides workers and emergency personnel with guidance for handling a hazardous substance and information on its composition and properties

MSDS for Epoxy Adhesive

Question 2: Access a 3M site for any country other than the United States. Is the product in question 1 sold in the country you visited? Is so, is there an

MSDS for that product in that country?

The country that we visited on the 3M site is Australia

The product 3M™ Scotch-Weld™ Epoxy Adhesive 1838 Green B/A, 1 pt Kit, 6 per case is sold in Australia

There is also a MSDS that is offered for the product

Question 3: Access the U.S. 3M site for “Manufacturing & Industry, Abrasives & Sandpaper.” Visit the sections of the site for “Products,” ‘Documentation,”

and “Where to Buy.” Summarize how 3M could use OLAP analysis. Specify measures, dimensions, and cubes. What information would 3M obtain from this analysis? What value does the dynamic aspect of an OLAP analysis add?

Manufacturing & Industry Product Catalog

Product Catalog Industrial Abrasives Industrial Adhesives Industrial Tapes

Specialty Products Packaging Tapes & Equipment

Where to Buy Where to Buy Shop 3M International Contacts Locate a Converter

Document Center Brochures & Technical Data Material Safety Data Sheets Product EHS & Regulatory I

nformation RoHS Compliance Product Selectors

Question 3 continuation:

3M value in using OLAP Analysis is the capability to explore its large volumes of summarized data in just seconds

For example creating Sales Analysis to improve sales force productivity or Customer and Product Profitability Analysis to transform sales force from a revenue-centric to a profit-centric department

OLAP tools take data from relational and non-relational data sources and transforms it into explorable structures called cubes

Cubes• OLAP tools load data into data cubes• The cube contains all of the data in an aggregated form • 3M might analyze some financial data by product, by time-period, by city , by country, by type of industry, and by comparing actual data with a budget • A single cube can deliver thousands of reports• For example, 3M could find out total sales by day, month, quarter, year , city, state , country, category, zip code, and employee• The Three basic actions that are used create dynamic reports : Drilling down, Slicing and Dicing, Changing Display

Question 3 continuation…

An OLAP report has dimensions and measuresA dimension is a characteristic of a measure3M dimensions in this case could be Product families,

Customer type, Customer Locations, Retail Store Locations, International Contacts, Product Regulations & Documentations by country, state and city

Measure is the quantitative figure that businesses analyze and derive reports for across dimensions such as Finance Profit by division, Marketing Revenue by industry, Operations Volume by plant, etc.

OLAP product analysis produce info related to questions such as: What percentage of the overall revenue is brought in from

industrial abrasives, industrial adhesive and industrial tape? What are the best-selling products? Which product is most profitable? What is the change in product sales mix year over year?

Question 3 continuation …

OLAP Customer Type analysis produces info related to question such as:Which customer purchases the most products? The Metalwork

industry, Aircraft Industry or Manufacturing Industry?Which products are bought with other similar products?How often and how recently do they buy, at what price point? What is the volume of customers in specific Foreign Countries?Which products are purchased more in specific locations as

opposed to other products and locations?How often a customer purchases a specific product.When are specific items bought at certain times of the year

(seasonal products, etc)?

Question 3 continuation…

OLAP Customer Locations Analysis produces info related to questions such as:How does sales growth In Europe or Asia compare

to North America?What are the top 10 divisional offices in regard to

revenue generation?OLAP Store Location Analysis produces info

related to questions about the concentration and locations of International Contacts carrying their products

The web store Shop 3M could provide info about the most requested product or clicked on

Question 3 continuation

OLAP Regulation & Documentation analysis produces info related to subjects such as Number of requests for Brochures and Technical

Date for products by industriesForeign Countries regulations and law

requirements3M provides information on the regulatory status

of many 3M productsOne important requirement is the European

Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substance (RoHS) Directive, which applies to many products in the electrical and electronic markets.

Question 4: Do you think the abrasive division could effectively use an RFM analysis? If so, specify how it could perform such analysis. If not, explain why

not?

The abrasives division could use effectively a RFM analysis to analyze and rank customers according their purchasing patterns.

It considers how recently a customer has ordered, how frequently a customer has ordered, and how much money the customer has spent and what type of product has purchased

3M can utilize the RFM reporting application by inputting data from its Customer Relationship Management Systems that stores this data in their database

Question 5: Do you think the abrasives division could effectively use a market-basket analysis? If so what would it do with the information? If not,

why not?

A market-based analysis is a data-mining technique for determining sales patterns creating cross-selling opportunities

It is an analysis that shows products that customers tend to buy together when analyzing sales transactions and counting the number of times they happen in the same transaction

3M could use it effectively to train sales personnel to use the analysis to increase cross-selling sales

It is helpful in Managing Inventory or in Forecasting Production Scheduling.

Could help increase sales by having a “related products” or “customers who bought this product also bought” section at checkout of webstore.

3M could use this to figure out what similar products are purchased and then stock more inventory of that product.

Question 6: Suppose that you want to learn which 3M product is the best for gluing fiberglass to teak(wood). Teak is particularly oily and is difficult to glue.

Access 3M site and attempt to determine which 3M adhesive is best suited for this task. Describe your experience.

Under the product 3M catalog, I selected Industrial adhesive and entered in the box Search 3M.com: teak woodIt offered first three products not relevant to solve the problemI then clicked on the following hyperlink:

If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included. I then found in the second page of Google the following product:3M™ Glass Primer P595

3M™ Glass Primer P595 is a versatile black primer to improve the adhesion of 3M polyurethane adhesive/sealants. P595 may be used on different substrates (concrete, aluminum, wood, glass, plastics). Seals off the porosity of materials such as wood or concrete.

I found searching for this solution time-consuming and not quick and direct at filtering down to the right product

Question 7: Repeat question 6, but use Google instead. Describe your experience

I entered in the Google box the question: Which 3M product is best for bonding to teak wood?

М Cleaner/Primer link was available on the top of first Google pageThis link included a list of products, their description, and directions for use: 3M™ Cleaner C596 3M™ Fritted Glass Primer P590 3M™ Plastic Primer P591 3M™ Metal Primer P592 3M™ Teak & Glass Primer P595 3M™ Teak & Glass Primer P597, Clear

It took a question and the opening of a top link in the Google first page to find the right product

Question 8: Somewhere in 3M there is a person who knows, off the top of his or her head, what products to use to glue fiberglass to teak. Is there any way

to find out who that person is ? Does 3M know who that person is? What type of BI system might 3M set up to help customers find such experts?

Contact 3M by Phone For personal assistance, at: 1-800-362-3550.

Contact 3M by e-mail to ask questionsCustomers Select from the Product Families below

to ensure that questions get routed to the correct area:AbrasivesAdhesives and BondingIndustrial Tapes and Specialty ProductsPackaging Tapes and Case Sealing EquipmentOther Manufacturing and Industry Questions

The 3M head of the division, his or her assistant, customer support would know

Question 8 Continued

After calling 3M’s customer service line and being directed to Steven at the product information line I was told that the correct product to glue fiberglass to teak wood is the 3M Marine Adhesive Sealant Fast Cure 4200.

We also received the same answer when we e-mailed them.

However, both took time to find the right person to talk to and we had to be re-directed several times to find Steven who knew the answer to the question.

Question 8 continuation: What type of BI system might 3M set up to help customers find such experts?

A BI system that includes Knowledge-Management applications or Expert Systems

In March 2010, 3M has chosen SAP Business Suite 7 as its global enterprise applications standard.

It will support the strategy of meeting customer needs wherever they are

If they set up an Expert System to help customers find the products they need to perform a task they would see an increase in sales since more people would be able to find what they need.

Question 9: The 3M site is oriented around divisions and products. If you know the product you want, you can learn all about that product. But is

poorly organized with regards to problems and needs. 3M is a very successful company . Why do you think the site is constructed in this matter?

It does not use a business intelligent system to process the immense amount of data to create information containing patterns, relationships, trends, expertise.

3M philosophy might be that its products are excellent that they require minimal support.

They are probably not too familiar with how to construct a BI system to benefit their customers better.

Since 3M is so well known and many people have been using their products longer than their website has been up they are familiar with the product line and know what they need to get for certain jobs.