1.5.5 Inter-Department Coordination

R&D and Marketing

Your R&D Department works with Marketing to make sure your product line meets customer expectations.

R&D and Production

R&D works with Production to ensure assembly lines are purchased for new products. If Production discontinues a product, it should notify R&D. Production and R&D also discuss automation increases and their impact on revision dates.

Marketing and Production

Your Marketing Department works with Production to make sure manufacturing runs are in line with forecasts. Marketing’s market growth projections also help Production determine appropriate levels of capacity. If Marketing decides to discontinue a product, it tells Production to sell all of that product’s capacity.

Marketing and Finance

Marketing works with Finance to project revenues for each product (price multiplied by forecast) and to set the Accounts Receivable policy.

Finance and Production

Production tells Finance it needs money for additional capacity and automation. If Finance cannot raise enough money through stock, bonds and working capital, it can tell Production to scale back its requests, or perhaps sell idle capacity.

Finance and All Departments

The Finance Department acts as a watchdog over company expenditures. Finance should review Production’s decisions. Is Production manufacturing too many or too few units? Does it need additional capacity? Has Production considered labor cost versus automation purchases? Finance should crosscheck Marketing’s forecasts and pricing. Are forecasts too high or too low? Is pricing correct for the targeted segment?

Finance can determine a range of possible outcomes for the year by changing (but not saving) Marketing’s forecasts then checking the proformas. Lowering the forecasts will decrease revenue and increase inventory (worst case); raising the forecasts will increase revenue and decrease inventory (best case).

Finance can print the worst case and best case proformas, then compare them to the annual reports after the round advances.