Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. was founded in 1986 by Macon Brock Jr., H. Ray Compton, and Douglas Perry. This company was the latest addition to a chain of stores specializing in “1$” sales of Consumable merchandise, Variety merchandise and seasonal goods. Initially targeting the middle-class, Dollar Tree now has a huge customer base across the U.S. The growth of Dollar Tree has been quite phenomenal thanks to their efficient business strategy and loyal customers. It generates a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19% in sales and 14% in earnings per share (EPS) and has over 2,600 stores (as of 2004) in the US. This was mainly due to organic expansion and buying out local competition. By the end of 2004, Dollar Tree operated nine distribution …show more content…
In 2004, the management of the DC had to rent expensive off-site, short-term space to handle peak flow. The report proposed two possible options for expanding the logistics network capacity: 1. Expand the current Briar Creek distribution center by another 400,000-square foot. 2. Built a new distribution center with 600,000 square foot in Hartford, Connecticut.
Both of these options cater to the same purpose; i.e. they will serve the same territory which is currently assigned to Briar Creek, currently Briar Creek DC has size of 603,000 square feet. As a logistics manager our goal would to perform a qualitative and quantitative analysis to see which option will be beneficial to the company in the long and short term.
Analysis
Three important factors are to be considered for making our decision whether to construct a new facility or not • DC Operating Costs
• Transportation Costs
• Land, Labor and Administrative Costs DC Operating Costs
The Fixed and Variable costs need to be considered to calculate the total DC Operating costs. Since both distribution centers are in the same region, we assume the variable costs remain the same. Now the fixed costs are hard to determine with the information given, so let us apply data from a different DC similar to the square foot capacity of the expanded Briar creek facility
(in this instance the Joliet DC).
Quantitative Analysis
OPTION 1- EXPANSION
Fixed Costs
Applying data from Joliet DC (nearest
The daily routine at Dollar Tree Inc. is very basic and is usually minimally manned. Problems such as stray items, wrong inventory and cash drawer mismatch arise due to employees not having the proper training.
Since Elijah Heart Clinic patient inflow has increased, there are plans for a $75 million dollar expansion and improvement project to manage the patient inflow. The plan is to open a new facility with 100 private rooms and include the latest technology. Not only will there be new construction but the clinic will also renovate the existing facilities. I based my decisions on the focus of the clinic. The focus is to make sure that the changes will continue to provide patients quality care. Also when making my decision, I have to keep in mind that the strategy chosen will result in the success or failure of the clinic. To choose the best option, I had to analyze the cost of funding, the net present value, collateral requirements, prepayment limitations, and deadline for using the fund.
If we analyze Dollar Store, we will see that it has established over 140 stores across Canada since its inception in 1998. As it has been considerably increasing its market reach across Canada; they are considered a direct competitor to Dollarama. On the other hand, Great Canadian Dollar stores are extending their reach in eastern Canada. Additionally, they are very present in the community by offering both charitable and communal support. At last, Dollar Tree is a growing chain of discounted retail stores in the United States. It operates over 4400 retail stores in 48 states of the US and in Canada. Thus, they are ready to expand their customer base into Canada. Also, Dollar Tree offers a much broader range of products compared to Dollarama, for example frozen foods and dairy items. As such, there is a very high competition in the discounted retail stores industry. However, in such a high competitive environment, Dollarama is still able to open over 150 stores in the past four years only. Also, considering their stock trend, their share price had increased from 25$ to 56.90$ per share in only one year. That represents a growth of 128% in a single year. We can conclude that their shares are in demand in our current market environment. Thus, we can assess that they are very well positioned in today’s competitive environment.
Dollar Tree is a national brand chain of discount stores selling every item for $1.00. Founded by K.R. Perry in 1953 known as Ben Franklin later renamed to 5& 10. However, in 1993 owners Macon Brock, Doug Perry, and Ray Compton renamed the store to Dollar Tree Stores (DollarTree.com). Listed as a Fortune 200 company, The Dollar Tree is headquartered in Chesapeake, Virginia and operates over 14,000 stores throughout the United States. It supports its stores by utilizing a nationwide logistics network of nine distribution centers located throughout the U.S.
The Dollar Tree Cooperation provides inbound, import, domestic transportation and outbound transportation services to 48 locations in the United States and five locations in Canada (Dollar Tree Inc., 2014). Using 10 distribution centers, the Dollar Tree is
The Dollar Tree brand of stores has been around since 1986, when Douglas Perry, Macon Brock, and Ray Compton founded the chain as a compliment to their other business, K & K Toys (Parnell, 2014). Through the years, Dollar Tree has acquired several different dollar store and low-end retail chains to grow their business to over 4000 stores (Shetty, 2010). One of the first and most strategic moves that the company made was to shift away from carrying closeout merchandise and to become more of a traditional variety store with a wide variety of basic goods all priced at a dollar or less. To accomplish this change, the chain had to discontinue their current purchasing strategies and had to begin buying directly from manufacturers to change the type of merchandise that they had available for consumers. The second major strategic move involved changing the location of where stores are usually located. Up until this point, the stores had been being in enclosed malls. With this change,
ft. facility. There is no need for that additional facility since it increases direct and overhead costs. It should be eliminated. The DC is cluttered with merchandise everywhere, under conveyors and scattered across aisles. Tony considered three strategies: improving the physical structure and process flow in the distribution center, the modernization of distribution systems and business processes, and to reallocate human resources. He had to obtain goods from the companies international suppliers and quickly distribute them to their stores within Canada to gain competitive edge.
5. Proposed location of the new warehouse and transportation distances from the new location to each retail outlet/customer
Locating a central distribution center will increase the control over inventory for Consolidated. Having small point of operations will reduce the amount of inventory that will be maintained at the sites. Each location will have different needs and only stocking the immediate customer needs at each location will reduce overall costs. The purchasing discount will be easier to maintain if all shipments come to one location which will also save the company money. Having a couple small vans deliver to regional locations within an hour is less costly than ordering extra just to meet the minimum purchase discount. The cost of shipping to small locations will be minimal and will save the company and customers money in the long term. If the contractors know of items that they will need for a job they can inform Consolidated and the special items can be delivered to the job site or picked up at the regional office. Communication is key and willing to provide the best service in a timely manner will reduce cost and increase profit.
10^(1.5986 + (-‐.323)* Log(MxCrtn/Yr)) Predicted vs. Actual $0.220 FC / Unit $0.200 $0.180 $0.160 $0.140 $0.120 0 20,000,000 40,000,000 Max Carton Capacity / year 60,000,000 Effect on Total DC Cost Fixed and Variable DC Costs Sensitivity Parameters BC Current Sq Ft. (1000) 603 Capacity Carton/Yr 22,117,639 FC / Unit at Full Cap $0.168 Var Cost*
The recommendation provided for Target Corporation is choosing the Stadium Remodel project. There were three main factors used for choosing this project. First, its low
Our approach was to facilitate the demand with respect to the market. We penetrated the market by building factory in Fardo and building warehouses to the respective regions, Caleopeia, Sorange, Entworpe, Tyran. Another component that we had to consider was finding the optimal cost to increase market share and increase our profit margin. Discussion on the logistics will be discussed thoroughly, which affected our decision points and our overall outcome. There are a few questions we needed to answer before we built a road map to our strategy i.e. figuring out where to build the factory and warehouse, estimate the demand of the four regions and Fargo region, should we change capacity, adjust ordering point with respect to quantity, and also
We need to consider a number of relevant information prior to making the decision. The information that needs to be considered is:
Define the situation (case summary) Define the major issues, conflicts, and the network . Describe the options (alternatives) for solving these issues. Several internal and external influences serve as contributing factors in the reconsideration of the company’s current system. Changes in customer demands, domestic and global competition, and a unique decentralized management system is now forcing the Westminster Company to reevaluate their traditional supply chain practices. (Bowersox & M.B., 2014) Westminster’s domestic operations consist of three separate companies that sell and distribute products to several of the same customers. (Bowersox & M.B., 2014) At first glance consolidation of the systems can significantly improve
The plan of acquiring a new warehouse within the organization will look at factors relating to site selection, equipment, financial cost and other factors that will help in the analysis and placing the practicality of carrying out such project into positivity closure.