Introduction

D Showers Company is a small scale business with an estimated 170 employees. D showers, established over 20 years ago currently have a turnover of over 12 million pounds. The company specializes in the design and production of high-quality enclosures for bath showers, water delivery systems, and bath screens. As a result, the company’s target market is upper-class citizens. Throughout two decades the company has acquired a strong reputation as the leading manufacturer in production as well as innovation. Also, the company offers its customers a wide variety of customized features and designs. The core design of the company featuring to fit into bespoke bathrooms where the bathroom design is centered on around the enclosure of the shower.

Target market

As previously stated the company targets high-end customers and by doing so the company offers high quality and innovative bathroom designs. As a manufacturing company D showers apply various types of sales strategies as they sell their products through showrooms and independent retailers. It is critical that the company develops products to cater to their target market; hence the company receives feedback from salespersons of the respective retailers on the range of products available, customer tastes and preferences. The information gathered from various salespersons is analyzed by the company’s sales department. The sales department liaisons with the design team to conduct technical assessments of customized products. It is critical to note that D showers strategically fail to sell products to leading retail chains including Homebase and B&Q. Also, the company sells its products to developers of high-end domestic properties working close with architects and contractors. It is apparent that the company’s business strategy is focused on customers hence offering a lifetime warranty and fitting services to their customers. It is critical to note that despite the company offering customized products and high-end shower products the nature of the business is not unique. The company faces competition from a wide variety of manufactures. As previously stated the company is focused on innovation, quality, and customization which contributes to the company’s competitive advantage. For the business to maintain its position in the market as well as distinguish its self as a premium manufacturer, the company charges premium prices for its products. Through the superior prices, the company can limit itself to its preferred target of high-end customers. While on the other hand their numerous competitors target the mainstream market hence using retail chains as there preferred selling channel. In the last couple of years, D shower has experienced a threat to its business as its competitors start to produce similar products.

Performance Issues

D showers are well known for offering high-end quality products through the application of a wide variety of innovative strategies. Unfortunately, in the recent past, the company has been experiencing issues in the market as it its reputation is damaged due to missing delivery dates as well as tardiness. It is critical that the organization addresses the problems it is facing swiftly before its status and its market position is adversely affected. In response to the company issues, the sales team has extended the delivery period from the usual four weeks to a total of eight weeks. Despite the efforts of the sales team to solve the delivery issue by doubling the delivery time. The company has been unable to meet multiple schedules which are adversely affecting the business. Customers are quickly losing faith in the ability of the company to produce products based on customer deadlines. As a result, the sales and the reputation of the company have been affected. In addition to delays, the company is also dealing with issues of excess stock. Adding competition to the above-stated problems has harmed the company profits thus the urgent need to evaluate the business and operations critically

Revised operations

To apply various changes and address the current issues being experienced at the organization, D showers have revised various business and operation functions. To address the issue of stock outs the company has applied visual management strategies and lean manufacturing the design of the stores has been altered to enable the organization to identify the flow of materials and products quickly. Also, the company has trained its employees on lean manufacturing strategies to allow them to apply visual management skills. Secondly, Adonising plant two was out of date and as a result has contributed to the production of low-quality goods. As a result plant two has been decommissioned and sold to enable the company to invest in a modernized plant. Adonising plant two was developed in the space created as a result of the organization adopting lean manufacturing strategies. Thirdly, the company revised its logistical functions by hiring a logistical firm to deliver products from warehouses as well as plant two. Thus the existing fleet would focus on delivery of materials from one plant to the other as well as delivery of finished goods to the warehouses. The logistics revisions are critical in ensuring that the warehouses and plants have adequate resources and finish products reach their destination on time. It is apparent that with the current fleet the company could not cope with the transportation demands and as a result delivery was delayed in various sectors of the business.

To address the costs of operation as well as company resources the company implemented an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) System. It is apparent that the company was encountering issues managing production through the SAP investment of 600,000 pounds. The company is now in a position to plan output effectively. The SAP system will facilitate projects and product planning through the product life cycle. Also, the company can effectively monitor inventories and customer deadlines ensuring that delays are no longer an issue at the organization. The suppliers have also been included in the revised strategy to provide a more streamlined operating system between the company and the suppliers.

As the company revises its business and operations strategy, it has set aside various goals it hopes to achieve through the changes. The designing of a new product line is aimed at catering to the mid-range market which was previously locked out. Initially, the business focused on high-end customers. Through the modular approach, the design period will be increased by over 40 percent. The company also hopes to achieve a reduced lead time in product delivery from the four weeks revised by the sales team to the initial two weeks period that the company initially applied. As a result, the company is expected to experience compound growth of close to 22 percent. Deadstock and the excess stock is likely to reduce by over 50 percent of the first year of implementing the new strategy.  Human resource management strategies are expected to reduce employee turnover by over 15 percent in the first year. Previously the company did not sell its products to retail chains, in the revised business strategy targeting middle-class markets, the company intends to sell the “own brand ” to retail stores to be achieved through the modularization approach.