Blinds to Go: Invading the Sunshine Stage Case Solution

2. Problem

The case protagonist, senior VP of operations, Rintaro Kawai, was faced with a dilemma. The problem was BTG's past experiences in Lakewood. Initially, the plant was opened up in proximity where demand was on the high end. As a result, demand was extremely high from the start of operation. The employees, not trained, did not know how to handle this large volume, and this resulted in defects and thus, losses to the company. These costs were rooted in the training problem. The training needs were afterward catered to through experienced employees from the old Montreal plant; although the company had estimated the training costs, but the actual costs came up to be twice as much as the estimated. Employees who had initially joined the Lakewood plant were overwhelmed by the complexity of the process and de-motivated by the defects. This, therefore, increased the turnover rates. As a result, twice the number of employees had to be trained in customer service and sales.

One other problem was dividing employees into shifts to cater to the volume at all times and deliver the USP that BTG had. At first, they did not allocate shifts according to demand patterns that left employees of the second shift with little work to do. It was stated that weekends usually brought in peak sales and suggested that shifts must be divided on the volume basis.

3. Analysis / Description

The problems faced by BTG in the Lakewood plant were rooted in the training issue. Since the Montreal plant had focused on customer service training to its employees, its outlets and its processes went on smoothly. The focus on customer service also had not been so at the start of the plant. The experience of the majority of the employees came from their time with BTG. The new employees were trained by the already working employees, thus having no negative effect on the plant's productivity. However, the new Lakewood plant had new employees. The manager was not experienced and after a year, the Montreal manager was reallocated to the Lakewood plant to lead it with expertise. The Florida expansion project was certain because of the distribution and service center was planned and in the pipeline. The decision was between building a new plant or not. The Lakewood case highlighted that the store close to the plant was highly successful; the reason being that the customer involvement was high. The customers were encouraged to visit the plant. It also reduced the gap between the plant and the store, so employees had the ease of checking up on orders and the progress.

The USP of low price and quick service was what made BTG profitable and gain customers from its competitors. This analysis was done keeping in view the USP of other competitive brands. Hunter-Douglas topped the sales among the brands because of its focus on innovation and designs. The second came so because of it focus on the improvement of manufacturing processes and reducing inefficiencies. Also, Hunter-Douglas topped because of the variety it offered as per the case. If BTG focused on designs, efficiency, and variety, also keeping inclusive the time and price USP, it could succeed in the Florida market and make the competition of that market irrelevant because of these distinctive factors.

BTG stood second in place when compared to other categories of 3-day blinds, and next day blinds. An analysis of the graph revealed that the first place was held by 3-day blinds due to its number of stores which was greater than any other. At the beginning of the case, it was discovered that the customers opted for stores in their proximity.

4. Recommendations

Since the importance of expansion can be highlighted by the fact that higher stores results in higher sales, the Florida expansion would be a very profitable option. It was stated in the case that the Lakewood plant is recovering. The reduced load on management to stabilize Lakewood operations can serve as a positive factor for Florida. The analysis done is in favor of the plant option being exploited. The rationale of this is that BTG's USP lies in the integration of its retailing and manufacturing divisions and the closeness of the manufacturing plant to the stores which helps in reducing time and transportation costs. Hunter-Douglas' USP was the variety