Calsonic Corporation Plc is a leading specialist in design, development and manufacture of heat exchangers, engine cooling systems and air conditioner systems and catalytic converters. It is based in Japan but has spread over many other areas of the world, including Llanelli in Wales. The Llanelli plant is one of many other company’s which has belonged to the Calsonic Corporation for the past 13 years. The Japanese organisation is a Public Limited Company, which is where the company can offer their shares to the public, often through the Japanese stock exchange.

Calsonic Corporation find that there are many Constraints and benefits from this type of ownership. To make sure they make a good profit Calsonic need to increase sales and reduce costs. I was given the sales figures for the past 7 years which showed sales increasing from i?? 56 million in 1993 to i?? 116. 45 million in 2000, this shows they are successfully managing to increase sales which will help them achieve their objective of more profit. I am also able to look at how successful they have been in reducing costs which will also help increase profit.

I have based my opinion on the graphs that Calsonic use to record the year’s progress. The scrap graph shows the number of scrap decreasing which will reduce costs as will machine downtime, because if their machines are working efficiently they can get more radiators made. By reducing the scrap and the process defects they are helping to achieve objective number1 of increasing their profits, if there is less scrap then they will not be throwing away their money and then can increase their profits. By reducing the process defects, there will be fewer problems with their products and therefore less money lost on replacing products.

With the customer defects graph shown in the appendix, I can see that they are well on their way to developing products to meet customer global requirements another of their objectives, near the end of 2001 there were many less customer defects than in 1999, this shows that they are trying harder and are nearly near their target. By looking at the skill development graph, I can see that they are also not far from meeting objective number 6, they are much closer and sometimes meeting their target of employee involvement.

This is because they have set up improvement teams which work like quality circles where workers are asked for their opinions before decisions are made. All these graphs have convinced me that Calsonic are on their way to achieving 100% of their objectives. I think that they are going about achieving them well and are on the right track to success. The main purpose of the Human Resources department is to recruit, train and develop staff to a high level of achievement. They make sure the firm has all the manpower it needs to meet the tasks determined by the board of directors.

This means finding, (advertising for) the right people – this could mean advertising locally for production workers and on a wider scale for management and team leaders. Checking their credentials thoroughly, following up references, all of which must be received in writing and possibly starting workers on trial periods to see how they perform before offering them longer term contracts. Training is an essential part and Calsonic believe that workers should be offered as much training as possible.

At present employees are offered training in the key skills needed for their particular area or workplace. They feel it is most important to develop employees to their full potential to create teams of workers to achieve high levels of morale and motivation. The Human Resources department covers attendance as well as many other employee aspects. An employee is only allowed a certain number of days off a year. They are allowed days off for being ill but must have a doctor’s note to certify their illness.

The Human Resources department keeps track of every employee to make sure that they are not missing work for any unknown reason, they record the attendance records on graphs like the one shown in the appendix Calsonic takes Health and Safety very seriously. Any accidents must be reported and at the end of each year, weak areas of the plant are reported in a monthly magazine and the strategies are reassessed to improve that particular area. In the appendix is a graph showing all the accidents, which occurred in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Shown are the accidents that required hospital treatment and time being taken off work. The Human Resources department is helping Calsonic meet their objective number 6 of involving the employees more, this department helps the employees gain their NVQ’S and other qualifications. They are working well with the employers and make sure that they are on the right line to achieving these qualifications. If the Human Resources department keep working the way they are, then all the employees will have gained some kind of qualification whilst working at Calsonic.

The appendix shows a graph kept by the HR department, which sows the skill development, and the number of NVQ’s awarded each year. FINANCE The finance department records all business transactions in order to measure the financial performance of the business. Accurate accounts will be presented to the board at prearranged intervals to enable management decisions to be made. The finance department looks after and keeps the financial records as well i. e. profits and loss, balance sheets, forecasts and financial accounts.

With these records, they can forecast the future and decide what to spend the next year’s money on. They advise the Board of Directors on budgeting and how they can save money. They also organise the finance needed for any expansion. This helps to achieve the objective number 1 of increased profit by presenting the financial information for future decision making, future expansion and developments which helps meet objective number 5. MARKETING DEPARTMENT The marketing department will be responsible for:

Market research – collecting data, analysing it and presenting it for discussion. The marketing department visit their customers to find out what specifications they require for their radiators. They also visit potential customers to find out what their needs are and why they currently do not have contracts with Calsonic. By doing this the marketing department can work out what needs to be done to get new customers. They also get radiators made by the competition and take them apart to find out why they may be better.

With all this information they can discuss with the production department how to produce radiators to meet car manufacturers needs. Another role of the Marketing Department is to ensure Customer service and care – they will do this by visiting their customers to make sure they are completely satisfied and that their needs are seen to. If the customers have problems with the radiators, the Marketing Department must ensure that the Production Department are notified and come up with a solution and a better radiator.

Sales – Calsonic only use personal selling to promote their goods. This is where the marketing reps will visit customers and potential customers to promote their radiators and say why they should draw a contract out with Calsonic. They will use special pricing strategies to attract new customers and persuade them to move from one company to Calsonic. Sales administration – The Marketing Department are also responsible for Sales administration, this includes – processing orders, preparing quotations and than invoicing for work completed.

They do this to keep quality high, they make sure they are invoicing customers at the right time and with the right price. They can keep customers happy and keep customer loyalty by doing this. If the marketing department want to fulfil all these responsibilities, they will have to work very closely with the finance and production departments. A business, which has sales and/or market share as its prime objective, would give priority to this function, so improving the customer’s impression of the business. HOW CALSONIC USE THE 4P’S OF MARKETING.

Products – Calsonic Llanelli Radiators are very customer oriented and change the design of their radiators to suit different customers e. g. (Rover radiators are different to Ford radiators) Price – The price of Calsonic’s radiators, vary immensely for the different customers. They will do special pricing for special customer’s e. g. – if Vauxhall buy 1000 radiators, they will produce them at a lower price than usual. They do these pricing strategies to keep their customers happy and to gain customer loyalty, also if new potential customers are in sight, Calsonic may offer them a discount on their first order.

Place – Calsonic use once stage distribution, straight from the producer to the customer, this is because they use personal selling. This is easier for the customer as there is no middleman (wholesaler) and therefore, orders are received more quickly. Promotion – Calsonic use personal selling as their selling point. They rely on the word and mouth of there customers. This is their only promotion strategy and attracts customers by giving them discounts in pricing and quality produce.