Michigan Manufacturing Corp.: The Pontiac Plant--1988

Michigan Manufacturing is a broad-line maker of components for the automotive industry. It has developed a network of nine plants as its product line has grown. Newer, higher-volume products tend to be made in newer, focused, high-volume plants, while older product lines tend to be assigned to the Pontiac plant, the oldest one in the system. Because Pontiac produces such a wide variety of products, its overhead costs are very high. Management needs to decide whether to close the Pontiac plant or find a way to make it profitable.