Shelling Shrimp

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Case Interview Prompt

Currently, our client – Shrimps restaurant – has a person who shells shrimp manually. The worker needs 15 minutes to set up his workspace for shelling shrimps each day. Shelling shrimps is not his main task in the restaurant. It takes him 10 min to shell one pound of shrimps. His wage is $12 per hour.

It is possible to buy a machine for $3285 that automatically shells shrimps. Its useful life is 3 years. Setup time for the machine is 30 min each day. The same worker will serve this machine. The machine can process 60 pounds per hour.

What is break-even volume of shrimps needed to be processed each day to justify the investment into the machine?

Case Overview

This is a simple profitability case study from the case interview library. Study the prompt to make sure you gather the information needed to begin building your structure.

You can use the Profitability Framework in your frameworks, but the best case interview candidates know how to blend the frameworks in order to create a custom structure tailored to the specifics of the case.

The qualitative difficulty of the case is 1/4. This case will prep you for a McKinsey first round interview. There are no math exhibits in the case.

McKinsey Interview Tips

Want to crack your McKinsey interview and land an offer? You need to be a frameworks pro.

You must be familiar with the case frameworks, know how/when to apply each one, and know how to blend them to build custom structures.

One more thing for this case: identify 1 key area where there is opportunity for growth.

If needed, book an hour with an ex-MBB coach who can help you speed up your case prep process.