1. TRIZ Analysis* Automobiles should be strong and sturdy enough to provide adequate crash protection, yet light enough to allow for good gas mileage. Carry out a TRIZ analysis to generate solutions for this problem.
2. Decision Analysis* Choosing the Right Cloud: With the pace of business today, sharing and organizing documents and files so that they are continuously available from anywhere is of great importance. When working on group projects, editing and developing new material for magazines, books, or newspapers can be very messy and confusing when different versions of different documents are sent back and forth before a final version is agreed upon. This confusion only adds to stress as deadlines quickly approach. Today, it is very common to have more than one computer, smartphone, and tablet, adding additional dimensions to the confusion of having multiple versions of multiple documents existing in multiple places.

One group that is experiencing this kind of confusion and lack of organization with keeping their documents updated is the writers at the Chem-Daily newspaper. The group has considered investing in a cloud service system, an online file sharing and storage service. Cloud service systems provide convenience by gathering all documents into one place and synchronizing them online with all devices and users. The group researched cloud service systems and found four possible candidates: Dropbox, SugarSync, Microsoft’s SkyDrive, and Google Drive. The first is Dropbox, the most popular and best-known cloud service. It is very simple to use. A folder is created on your device and all the files that are placed in that folder will automatically be synchronized to all other devices and users. The Dropbox service provides 2 GB of free storage and users can sign up for a 100-GB plan for $99/year. Another cloud service system with functions similar to Dropbox, again using folders, is SugarSync. Its advantage is that it does not just synchronize one specific folder. Instead, it backs up the existing structures of your folders on your device, avoiding the problem of forgetting to place the documents in a specific folder. SugarSync offers a 5-GB free storage and for an annual cost of $150, the 100-GB plan. The one cloud system that offered the most free storage space, 7 GB, was Microsoft’s SkyDrive. This cloud system has the function of a cloud system combined with Microsoft’s Office tools. This built-in feature allows the users to edit and write documents directly in the cloud. Microsoft’s SkyDrive also provides a 100-GB plan but for a lower price of $50/year. Google Drive, another cloud system that has the same features as Microsoft’s SkyDrive with built-in editing capabilities, offers a 5-GB free plan and a 100-GB plan for $60/year. However, Google Drive requires files and documents to be converted into Google’s format in order to be usable in the cloud system. Finally, the group found that all cloud service systems are available to download on smart devices.

1) Introduction

2) Product profitability analysis: Kay would like to be able to better assign costs to each of AVS’s products, and has collected the following information about AVS activities.

• Harvesting activity – The Chardonnay grapes can be harvested at the average rate of 71.5 pounds/hour, while the generic white grapes are harvested at the rate of 100 pounds/hour. Harvesting includes costs related to tractors and harvest labor.
• Crush activity – Relates to the pounds of grapes crushed. Includes costs of crusher equipment and crush labor.
• Fermenting activities – Barrel costs relate to the Chardonnay wines by the percentage of wine used in each wine type. Holding tanks relate to the Blanc de Blanc and the regular Chardonnay wines by the percentage of wine used in each wine type.
• Lab and supervision activities – Albert estimates that these activities are split 60% Chardonnay-Estate, 25% regular Chardonnay, and 15% Blanc de Blanc.
• Other production activities and costs not directly associated with a specific wine – Allocate according to the number of bottles produced of each wine.
• Administrative activities – Allocate according to sales revenues.

a. Use this information, along with the information given in the case, to construct a product profitability analysis. Assume that AVS did not buy the grapes referred to in Question 2.

b. What would you recommend to Kay Aproveche regarding the product profitability analysis?