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Ladner Building Projects

Introduction

Ladner Building Products (Ladner); is a building materials distributor located in Montreal. Douc Turner, vice president for logistics and materials management has requested Gordon Stephens, a logistics analysis, to prepare a report analyzing the companies’ logistical practices. It is of significant importance to note that ladner’s had a turnover of $ 495 Million, but showed an operating loss of $ 1.9 Million.

The report required therefore, have to present recommendations that would reduce cost, improve company performance, or accomplish both simultaneously.

1. Evaluation Report on the Logistics Practices at Ladner Building Products (Ladner)

The current supply chain management at Ladner’s is very complex. There is a supplier base of some 500 organisations & 15000 brand name & private label products. Furthermore, each region carried approximately 3000 SKU’S (Stock Keeping Units). Logistics in any organisations starts with the purchasing of the materials from suppliers, to the storage of the materials and finally ends with the delivery of the materials to the customer.

However the thought must also be given to the fact there must be a materials management strategy within the organisation. This strategy can be broken down into the following activities.

 Anticipating materials requirements
 Sourcing and obtaining materials
 Introducing materials into the organisation
 Monitoring the status of materials as a current asset.

In view of the above, is the materials management at Ladner aligned to the materials management activities?

 In the building material distributing industry, the demand is mostly seasonal, with two thirds of the sales occurring between May and November. (The organisation must be aligned to this – expand).

 The sourcing and obtaining of materials must be streamlined using established methods such as Just-In-Time deliveries from suppliers. (Here we need to expand – perhaps a good idea is that...