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In conclusion, over the past month there have been a lot of changes coming to city dump. These changes when implemented will create a safer, client friendly environment that will be here for generations to come. Making these changes will be a very big challenge for the company and it will need the participation from the entire staff their clients alike. When successfully up and running, these new changes that we have discussed over the past month will give us an edge in the local market with the chance of expanding into the African region as well. I’m sure that once Icon deliberate on this and see the facts, he will begin to get the ball rolling and these changes will begin to take hold throughout the entire company. 

            Another change is our business processes. The way we have ran the operation has been very efficient, but there are always room for improvement. The new change will help towards the engineer’s pre-session setup. After the client books their time and selects their engineer, they will have the option of sending the audio files for the session prior to the actual data for of the session. This will give their engineer to have everything set up prior to the session to that the client can get in and get straight to work. This will eliminate wait times in between session due to the audio and software is already tracked and ready to go. 

Another change is our business processes. The way we have ran the operation has been very efficient, but there are always room for improvement. The new change will help towards the engineer’s pre-session setup. After the client books their time and selects their engineer, they will have the option of sending the audio files for the session prior to the actual data for of the session. This will give their engineer to have everything set up prior to the session to that the client can get in and get straight to work. This will eliminate wait times in between session due to the audio and software is already tracked and ready to go. 

City dump is recently interested in improving the quality control. By implementing Deming’s 14 points to improve quality, they can assure that all of their quality control points are seamlessly implicated in every step of the business operations. Below is the list of points that will be mandated for the daily operations. 

One thing that is a big risk is Indianapolis weather. A lot of recording artist risk life and limb driving in nearly below zero weather just to get to the recording studio. Now of course there is no liability to us if they get into any car accidents on their way to our facility, however there can lead to resentment if we are allowing our facility to stay open during harsh conditions. I think as a level of risk avoidance (Black, 2011) that we close our facility during harsh weather. This will avoid the risk that an artist gets into any unnecessary accidents and show that they promote the safety of their clients first. 

Starting in 2005, City Dump Records was founded by Johnathan “Icon” Howe. It began as a record label for himself and other aspiring hip hop artist to have an outlet to record, mix, and master their own music. It was a close-knit group of individuals pushing to create a hip-hop culture within Indianapolis, Indiana. While Icon’s dream of being a successful recording artist was the original dream, he understood that it may not be as feasible and that he needed a Plan B. He knew he needed something to fall back on. He also knew that it was going to be something relative to the music industry. Buy understanding the forecast analysis below, Icon was able to predict the need for a safe, consistent, and professional place to record music and master their craft. 

            With the starting investment of $600,000, he was expecting a slow start with a boom in sales in the later years. After the initial investment, the very first saw a sales revenue of $195,000. The sales revenue would increase another 15% every year for the next 4 years. At this rate we can determine the forecast for the next 4 years.

Certain decisions require some sort of risks. The new location alone run a substantial amount of risks. Placing a facility on another side of town will come with some unforeseeable cost. Being that they place their studios in a residential area, you will have to discuss property tax on the house, and the safety of the neighborhood. 

The risk of this becoming a failed expansion has about a 30% chance. I think that it is worth the %70 chance that it is a success. There is a 60% chance the new facility will be in very high demand. If so, there will be a return in investment plus a $600,000 profit within the first year alone. There is also a 40% chance that it will be in low demand in which profit will not be made for another 4 years. I think given the chance of it being in high demand that they should proceed with the investments into the new facility

I think the pricing per hour should go up upon the completion of the expansion. This will help make the $600,000 back more rapidly and compensate for the new facility. Being that they have a current booking rate of $25 hourly, our price should increase to $35 hourly. Anything that the client wants within the time booked it up to them as far as time management. One sale point that will be scrapped is our audio mixing services. For $30 a song, they have offered to mix entire songs that client may not have recorded at our facility. This model has become inefficient due to it taking multiple hours to mix songs. Although the model will be no longer, those that want mixing can just simply purchase normal sessions and do the mixing during the time booked. Our mastering offers a similar deal at $40 a song. This model will also be reverted to just booking normal studio time and mastering during the time booked. Like mixing, the number of hours it takes to master one song is worth much more than the $40 for the entire workflow. 

–Cash flow problems have not been a very big issue within the company. The capital to invest into another location will solely come from the company. I think it should be taking from all company profits and this decision solely owner Icon. After 5 years at one location, Icon has amassed over $2 million in profits. This has come from the sheer amount of volume the studio has daily. Icon has had no reason to change this formula up to now and it had worked very well for him. This $2.2 million breaks down to about $440,000 a year give or take. If it is going to take about $600,000 to cover all cost to the expansion, then they must take from these profits. If Icon take from the profits on a yearly basis at the amount of $220,000, the expansion can be done in nearly 3 years. 

–I think the company can make a few tweaks here and there in-regards to the business operations. Whilst already having the working website where, all clients go to schedule and book time, there should be a working phone app available for all phone types. Not only will this app allow clients to check and book time and engineer in the studio, but it will also allow us to better service the client. For example, after each session we can ask them to complete a service rating through the app. This data can be collected daily and used in future decision and plans. The app will also allow us to send any files and music stems to the client with very little hassle. Often timesthe client requires different file types and stems of their music such as mp3 and wav files. This app will allow them to give them all oftheir files in one easy transaction and hold them within the app in case the client needs them again. This will end the need for clients to come in and unexpectedly need their files and not have any engineers available to them on hand. These two advantages are more than enough reasons to invest into a mobile app to help business functions and customer feedback.