Recommendation and Feasibility Reports

Recommendation and Feasibility Reports 

Date: November 17, 2003
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Subject: Purchase Recommendation for a Bakery oven

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this report is to recommend the purchase of a bakery oven. Manuals and actual observations of machines during operation provided me with the information necessary to evaluate the different ovens. After comparing a wide variety of ovens, I narrowed it down to two: Hitachi Model HB-B101 and Chefmate Model HB-215. In order to determine which oven to recommend, I evaluated them using the following criteria in ranked order.

1.     Width of machine’s front panel

2.     Cost

3.     Safety lock on panel

4.     Timer

Recommendation

I recommend that you purchase the Hitachi Model No. HB-101. This model meets or exceeds three of the four criterion standards, including the one ranked most important. The remainder of this report will compare the two models.

DISCUSSION

This section compares the two ovens in terms of width of front panel, cost, safety lock on panel, and timer.

Width of Front Panel

The width of the bakery’s oven front panel is the vertical measurement of the machine’s side that will face forward. If the machine’s dimensions are such that it does not fit on the countertop, it will have to be stored. This would be very bothersome because it would require unpacking and repacking the machine before and after each usage. Thus, it is necessary to find a machine that will fit the available counter space.

It is the width of the machine’s front panel that is most significant when considering counter space. All of the machines I researched fit the required depth and height dimensions for our available space. However, only 12 inches are available on the countertop for the width of the machine. Since not many machines met this requirement, this criterion received first priority.

Hitachi. The Hitachi’s design orientation allows for a short front panel of 9 15/16 inches. This easily meets the criterion that is necessary for it to fit on the counter.

Chefmate. The Chefmate’s orientation is opposite of the Hitachi. It has a wide front and short side panel. As shown in Table 1, the width of the front panel is 13 inches.

Conclusion. The Hitachi model meets the requirement for width of machines’ front panel, whereas the Chefmate does not. The design of the Hitachi is such that it will easily fit in the limited space available. 

TABLE 1. Bakery Oven Comparison
Criterion	Standard	Hitachi	Chefmate
Width of front panel	<12	9 15/16	13
Cost	<$175.00	$189.89	$133.11
Safety lock on panel	Yes	Yes	No
Timer	<12 hr delay	13 hrs	12 hrs

Cost

The cost of purchasing the bakery oven is the only initial expense of the machine. No other additional costs are involved. The price of the machine should not exceed $175.00.

Hitachi. The Hitachi oven costs $189.89, which is not within budgetary limits. However, it is only about $15.00 over the allotted amount, which is not unreasonably out of our range.

Chefmate. As seen in Table 1, the Chefmate oven easily meets the cost criterion, with a price tag of only $133.11, well within the amount you would like to spend.

Conclusion. Although the Hitachi oven does not meet the cost criterion, that does not rule out the machine. As long as the other criteria are met, the extra $15.00 may be worth spending. Even though the Chefmate is well within budget, it does not meet the size requirements, thus making the Hitachi a better choice, despite a higher cost.

Safety Lock on Control Panel

The safety lock is a function button on the control panel that prevents anything or anyone from disrupting the programmed baking process. When activated after the machine has been programmed, this function locks in the programmed setting and all other buttons are blocked. In other words, if someone were to come along and start pressing buttons while the bread is baking, the baking process would not be affected. Because the kitchen is a busy place with many people using it, this feature is a necessity.

Hitachi. As seen in Table 1, Hitachi’s Model HB-101 includes a safety lock for the control panel settings.

Chefmate. The Chefmate model lacks the safety lock feature on the control panel. This means that anything  or anyone can easily disrupt the baking cycle by bumping or pressing the panel buttons, resulting in a failed product.

Conclusion. The Hitachi bakery oven possesses the required design feature of a safety panel lock, whereas the Chefmate oven does not.

Timer

The digital timer, a function button on the control panel, allows a person to set the desired time for the bread making process to begin. The minimum requirement is the timer can be set at least 12 hours in advance.

Hitachi. The Hitachi model has a timer which can be set 13 hours in advance, providing one hour more than necessary.

Chefmate. The Chefmate model also has a timer. Its timer can be set 12 hours in advance, thus also meeting the criteria.

Conclusion. Both ovens have the delayed timing feature. The additional hour provided by Hitachi oven does not make it a better choice. It is only important that the oven meets the 12-hour minimum, Thus, the criterion is not a decisive factor since both machines possess this feature.