ICMA-CM case studies

ICMA-CM · Put your knowledge to work in context.

The ICMA Certified Manager (CM) is a professional credential for people who manage teams, functions, or small organizations and want their management competence recognized beyond their own job title. It is most relevant to supervisors and middle managers who own budgets, people decisions, and process outcomes, and to specialists moving into general management. The ICMA-CM case studies are 5 cases and about 5,160 words.

The Case Packer Capital Request

You are the operations finance manager at a regional beverage co-packer operating three plants. The plant manager at the largest site has requested 1.4 million for an automated case packer, supported by a five-year DCF showing an NPV of + 95,000 at the company's 11% hurdle rate and a payback of 3.9 years against a 3.5-year threshold for this risk class.

1,050 words, about 5 min 2

Five Days Before Year End

You are the divisional controller of a medical device distributor with a 31 December fiscal year end. Five working days before close, the sales vice president proposes shipping $2.1 million of orders to three distributors on terms that differ from the standard contract: 120-day payment, and a right of return that is not in the standard terms and has never been offered to these customers.

990 words, about 5 min 3

The Single-Source Sensor

You are the risk and procurement lead at a contract electronics manufacturer. One sensor used in 60% of your product lines is bought from a single supplier 9,000 km away.

1,015 words, about 5 min 4

The Changeover Bottleneck

You manage continuous improvement at a carton packaging plant with three work centres in series: printing, die-cutting and gluing. Die-cutting runs two machines on two shifts, 16 scheduled hours per machine per day, and its overall equipment effectiveness is 54% (availability 71%, performance 82%, quality 93%).

1,003 words, about 5 min 5

The ERP Rollout That Stalled

Fourteen weeks ago a 400-employee distributor with $180 million in revenue went live on a new ERP. The business case promised faster order entry and better inventory visibility; what has happened is different.

1,102 words, about 6 min