The Organization

The organization: What does the company make /sell? How has the company come this far? Who are the major customers and Suppliers? How is the company organized to meet their output requirement, and to satisfy their customers?

NEXT is the new generation of supplier in wholesale plumbing and hydronics, setting superior standards in service, product availability and delivery. They offer a complete line of products for all businesses from independent plumbers and small business owners to large mechanical contractors. NEXT specialize in the commercial and residential plumbing industry and offer a wide variety of plumbing fixtures, faucets, pipe as well as maintain a complete hydronic offering.

They maintain an inventory of over 20,000 SKU's with a wide breath and depth of product lines ranging from small washers and aerators to hydronic parts and plumbing fixtures. They carry all the major brands and have strategic relationships with them. Below is not an exhaustive list of the brands they carry:

NEXT has 11 strategically located warehouses across the GTA for quick delivery and pickup. All these locations are adjacent to main highways and key arteries each with a full complement of inventory and strong, strategic delivery capabilities. In addition to a 120,000 sq. ft. distribution center in Vaughn, NEXT serves customers from warehouses across the GTA and beyond. The goal is to provide contractors with unprecedented support in a fast growing and traffic laden environment by bringing inventory closer to customer jobsites and by following extended working hours.

4. Organization Strategy

What are the objectives of this company? How do they compete: through quality, cost, delivery, innovation? What is their positioning strategy and value proposition?

NEXT Plumbing Hydronics aims to be a different wholesaler who can help contractors, engineers, and plumbers complete jobs at the lowest cost possible and helping them save time. They consider customer service to be a commodity and as such want to be the number one place for plumbers and commercial developers to source parts for their projects. Insert vision here.

NEXT competes primarily through differentiation in their services. They provide both standard services in their industry as well as unique services not found offered by other competitors. Their standard services would include standard delivery to job sites, warehouse pickups, as well as next day morning deliveries. Where NEXT truly shines is their same day delivery service. No other direct competitor offers same day delivery, and not only is this service unique to the company but also is a very important and useful service for independent plumbers. Oftentimes, issues relating to parts can arise in the worksite for plumbers as a result of them being unorganized and not having the right parts, having very tight deadlines, or having unexpected requirements coming up suddenly. Hence these parts or fixtures tend to become urgent for customers and same day delivery becomes a big benefit. NEXT has several warehouses strategically located across the GTA allowing for easy access to major arteries while having a large breadth and depth of inventory which allows them to have the right product and get it to where it's needed. Although this business model is expensive, it is a unique trait of the organization and loyal clientele and a business model has been built upon said model. Plumbers, developers, and builders go to NEXT for their parts knowing that they can get the right part, at the right place, at the right time.

Although NEXT prides itself on quick same day delivery, they offer other services to promote a strong customer service culture. They have a specialized quotation and bidding team who can prepare quotes for plumbing fixtures and hydronic equipment to help customers win contracts, a customer service team who are industry experts who can provide troubleshooting advice, as well as local warehouses staffed by individuals knowledgeable in this subject matter. Another unique service of NEXT is their reverse logistics. NEXT is willing to take back unused parts from customers and provide a refund for those parts. However, the unique aspect is that they are willing to take unused parts that were sold by other companies. No other company offers this flexibility and service making it a unique value proposition. Hence NEXT position themselves as a very customer-centric firm who not only offers the standard services that competitors provide but also the unique services that set them apart from the competition.

7. Supply Chain Issues

Analysis, and Alternatives: You will need to analyze what you observe in the company considering what you have learned in this and other courses. Based on your analysis suggest alternatives for improvement and provide pro/con analysis for the company you This includes how it defines success, and the metrics they use.

NEXT has its own private fleet consisting of 51 branded units including flatbed boom trucks, straight trucks, cargo vans, and heavy commercial duty pickup trucks. The company also utilizes for-hire carriers and owner operators to complement its own fleet.

NEXT provides its customers next-day delivery service with time-window commitment (delivery time-window starting as early as 6am) as well as same-day/rush delivery service (2hrs turn-around).

Trucks start at 4:30am and usually finish their first run between 9-10am (next-day deliveries) and afterwards they are being used for same-day deliveries. Delivery locations mainly consist of construction jobsites (requires special tools and requirements) and customer warehouses. Given the complexity and cost associated with jobsite deliveries, use of for-hire carriers for these deliveries are limited.

Key Challenge

Majority of the deliveries are made direct from Vaughan distribution center. This provides an opportunity for consolidation and truck capacity utilization. Local warehouses do also provide direct delivery to the customers within their zone/territory. They are an important part of the same-day/2hrs-rush delivery operation given their proximity to their local customers. However, with limited volume truck capacity could be wasted.

Proposed Solution

Next-day delivery (hub-and-spoke model): to maximize truck capacity all trucks start at Vaughan distribution center and delivery within the local warehouse zone (also stop at the branch to drop off stock replenishment transfers and any add-on orders).

QUESTIONS:

1. Economic Environment

Analyze the economic environment in which the organization operates.

2. Supply Chain Functional Operational Organization

How is the supply function organized? How is the functional unit positioned to satisfy the objectives of the company? What are the specific objectives of this functional unit? How do they relate to the objectives of the company? Your subsequent discussion of the unit activities should be related to these

3. Supply Chain Description

Each function has some core concepts and basic principles that must be used in carrying out these For the supply function, one would like to know what these concepts and principles are for the company you study. This includes how it define success, and the metrics they use.

4. Supply Chain Recommendations

Implementation, Monitor and Control: based on strategically established decision criteria select your recommendation, suggest an implementation plan, a management feedback method, appropriate KPIs to evaluate the success of the recommendations, and contingency.

(NOTE: Company Link : https://nextsupply.ca/)