Interesting reading .
Controlling our production and supply chain , sales , and pricing is indeed a tricky fine line balancing act , our inventory is ever increasing, our staffing levels are increasing , yet unfortunately 25 years ago when I started this business it didn’t come with a manual , and 25 years later we are still here and much bigger and I still haven’t managed to find the magic formula that gives 100% availability with perfect stock levels , an ability to spot trends , and old stock / slow moving / overstocked inventory that sells naturally .
Whilst in an ideal world we would have
– very constant supply ,
– very consistent pricing ,
-a web system and staff that performed flawlessly ,
-an unlimited bank borrowing facility to allow us to have no cash pressures,
-a stock control and inventory system that could predict good sellers and bad sellers (how many fat bikes shall we order?) especially on new lines / models
– more than the 40,000 sq foot of warehousing so we can store unlimited inventory financed by our unlimited funds and sold to our never changing customers that want the same products every year
– couriers that always delivered on time ,
– customers that want the same product in the same colour year on year with no change
– no anti dumpng regulations limiting imports from china
Unfortunately we don’t have most of the above , last week following a discussion with brant the previous week about him discontinuing most of the inbred / 456 models , and following severe pressure from our taiwan agent they had 8 containers of stock to ship , we decided to clear the decks on some stock that is both slow moving , to be discontinued , and that we have more on order .
I really really wished our business model could be replicated on overshoes – we sell 5000 pairs a year every year for the last 20 years and haven’t changed the design once .
So – sorry for the tweaks and changes – there are many influences and pressures that have to cause us to react , most notably my northern pig farming business attitude that we have paid for our stock , we don’t borrow from banks , we pay our suppliers up front and every single day of the week we have to guess which way the market is going and predicting stock requirements – its very hard . Couple that with a designer like Brant who runs an ongoing tweaking / changing rolling programme with models changing – yes its very fair to say maintaining stock levels and controlling production is a big challenge .
Anyway – sorry for all the stuff we do that annoys you and when we let you guys down . We really do try to do our best , and try to get staff to do their best .
Its sunday morning , i should be out on the bike or playing with my kids , but I am on singletrack reading a forum about how we suck , so at least that says a little bit .
Of course we are looking for good staff , if anyone has a copy of the “book” or can contribute to improving our company , systems , and processes – then we have opportunities coming up in sales , purchasing , web , HR , showroom etc and the door is open , so if you are looking for work we have roles coming up , drop us a cv .
