Fortunately, due to a dramatic reduction in the number of manufacturers since the 1950s, Batesville is well-equipped to remain the market leader. They kept pace with industry trends (e.g. In materials and style), and realized that it was necessary to retain loyalty from the Funeral Director side of the house in order to maintain share. Note below that while overall casket sales seem to be declining from the1 1970s, current trends have not fallen below production in the 1960s -- and the potential aging population continues to increase (CFSA, 2008).:
Thus, for Batesville, the idea of combining a ground up approach to a technological problem, and the acumen and patience (not to mention foresight) to utilize object-oriented programming to find a way to streamline distribution and customer service, allows the company a continued standard of excellence. Funeral homes will not tie up funds with back inventory of caskets -- next day or 2-3 day delivery is expected and has become the rule. This, of course, increases the service cost for the manufacturer, which in turn adds to the overall cost of the product....
Using the Batesville model, however, these excess costs can be appropriately contained and mitigated, resulting in greater efficiency and profit for the company.
CLIENT:
POWERPOINT PRESENTATION IS at:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/wnrgmzw2ww0/Batesville Casket Company.ppt
If you have ANY trouble downloading, email Mark in Customer Service, I also sent him a copy of the presentation. Sorry for the delay!
REFERENCES
Casket and Funeral Supply Association of America. (2008). Cited in:
http://www.cfsaa.org/about.php
Harris, D. (2007). Grave matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry. Simon and Schuster.
Martin, E.W. (1992). "Batesville Casket Company." Research on the Management of Information Systems. Kelley School of Business, Indiana University.
"The 2009-2014 World Outlook for Manufacturing Burial Caskets, Cases, and Vaults." (2009).
Research and Markets. Cited in:
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/674649/the_2009_2014_world_outlook_for.htm
