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Essay on West Marine Case

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West Marine Case Summary West Marine, a large boating and fishing retailer with over 300 stores in North America with more than 50,000 products is planning the acquisition of BoatU.S. and the subsequent integration of the two supply chains. Although the management of West Marine has made significant progress in the implementation of CPFRprinciples over the six years since the E&B Marine acquisition, there are still qualms about how well the current Supply Chain and planning process can incorporate BoatU.S.'s product line. Each company maintains 750 suppliers with only 100 in common (or ~13%), with only 20% of products in common.BoatU.S. does not provide forecasts to suppliers or participate in any other CPFR activities as does West …show more content…

West Marine acquisition plan using CPFR: Develop a front end agreement with BoatUS suppliers to include expectations, measurable targets, strategic objectives, and tactics including order minimums and intervals. Next incorporate forecasts of purchases from US boat retailers. Last, execution = right location right time. We need to mention the measurement. Our professor is serious about her statistics. That's why I added this section last night: . Measurement and course correction: West Marine will need to determine their forecast error and their benchmark. Previously West Marine has used their order history as a benchmark. This plan has the potential to cause quantitative and qualitative forecasting errors due to special one time orders, or any promotions that would alter sales. Once West Marine can determine their root cause for error in their supply chain, corrections can be made. Decision Criteria Analysis of alternatives Perhaps the easiest approach to the acquisition of BoatU.S. is to leave BoatU.S.’s current demand and forecast planning untouched and separate from West Marine’s planning processes. This would be inexpensive and non-disruptive to the current corporate culture. The drawbacks, however, could be a slow steady decline in profitability and reliability of the BoatU.S. brand, hence the reason for the acquisition in the first place. However, management

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