Spices Unlimited
...r responsibilities. Brian needs to devise a method of improving inventory control before the June review scheduled with his supervisor. Situational Analyses 1. Company Mission: Spices Unlimited mission is to produce spices and mixes to be distributed and sold by supermarket chains and other food store outlets. The strategy is to widely distribute its products for sale across the U.S. The products are manufactured through a plant in Indianapolis and distributed through two warehouse outlets in Indianapolis and Denver. 2. Objectives and Goals: In-store Display Units: Spices Unlimited tries to get consumers to choose their product over another through the use of in-store display units to display their specialty items and advertise the company’s products. The units keep the spices in high visibility to the public which are important in the highly competitive marketplace of the grocery industry to ensure market share. Display units are a very cost effective and impactful form of in-store advertising. It encourages consumers to break shopping habits through impactful communication by: • creating impulse buys • drawing customers attention to the product • Making products easier to locate than on shelves in a store. These units are important to encourage retailers to keep selling Spices Unlimited’s products. The units make it easier to shelve the spices and keep the spices high visibility to the public. Inventory: It is a corporate objective to keep inventories at minimum. The demand for display units increased greatly over the last five years with increasing growth and new retailers listing their products. This growth has led to expected increase in units inventory to provide a certain level of customer service, but the increase is excessive due to various issues as discussed later. So we know that there is a problem of not only excessive stock, but also of loss of revenue due to frequent stock-outs which may result in retailers not being able to sell its products. Prior to Brian, the company had a periodic inventory system and a fixed-order-interval model was used with orders placed once a month which resulted in lack of control between reviews. There is no attempt at forecasting needed future demands of permanent equipment by the Sales and Marketing department. This results in purchasing and distribution staff inability to forecast t...