Casey Lewis is a recent graduate from College of Western Idaho's (CWI) Business Program. During the last few years, classes such as accounting, calculus, and statistics have made Casey realize the impact that mathematics has on making business decisions. He plans to build on this foundational knowledge by earning his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Boise State University. With the two separate degrees, Casey will have a calculated approach to his future business decisions.
Currently, Casey is working for a local paving company. With at least a decade under his belt, Casey has been involved in a variety of aspects of the company. While attending a business statistics class taught by Damaris Wight, he realized there may be better ways to create bidding estimates than they were currently using. Using the applicability of regression and correlation, he redesigned the way the company provided bids to customers.
Mr. Lewis modified a simple input form in Excel for the bidder to enter square footage and other pertinent information that provides more accurate bidding options. This equation is supported by prior year’s data and respectfully accounts for the different aspects that drive prices including square footage, employee hours, and materials. Casey recalculated the equation for each 5,000 sq. foot increment minimizing room for error. Furthermore, he incorporated different percentages of profitability giving the bidder three different options to ensure he will win the bid over other companies.
This new design has been fully implemented recently so there is no data yet to prove the equation successful. However, Casey has been sampling with regression on one salesman and within the last two months the salesman’s accepted bids have already raised by 15 percent. The company has now given Casey the position of statistically analyzing the different departments of the company to hopefully better their profitability company-wide.
Casey is thankful for the knowledge and support he received from the Business faculty at CWI, and is excited to see results by the end of the year.
