With or without the pandemic, the structure and structure products industry has discovered tactics to evolve. Companies are leveraging generation to differentiate themselves, which has the added advantage of creating more collaboration in an industry divided into silos.
I spoke to experts from all aspects of the supply chain who shared the generating effect on their business this year and expectations for next year.
Bert Stephens, senior vice president of operational excellence and READY-FRAME at national structure product provider Builders FirstSource, focuses not only on collecting and employing data, but also on optimizing it for the design process.
“What we’ve done is attach 3D design and BIM,” Stephens said. “We must integrate our visitors’ plans into our systems. And, in fact, we need to be able to design for production in order to extract precisely what is in the design. Ultimately, this will make a plan more useful, we will be able to accentuate it with other parts of the business and move back and forth with the visitor instead of redesigning a plan multiple times and spending a lot of time and resources. “
In 2021, Builders FirstSource also invested in its pre-cut frame system, READY-FRAME. With the 3-d design, disorders can be known and resolved in advance, and the overall pre-cutting procedure proved to be 30% faster than construction with Stephens says the program also reduces waste rates, eliminates unnecessary cuts in the box, and makes copywriters faster.
“Everything is tested,” Stephens said. Possibly it would be a little more at first, but if you look at it in general, there is an overall load saving. Some corporations have followed it and know the full life cycle of the house structure and do not look at a room for singles. take a look at the whole task to see how it increases quality and reduces errors. »
Stephens does not stop at the advances in this technology, the corporation is launching a program in 2022 to upload QR codes to the product so that, when it is sent, it has a set of plans that the writers can scan and see from a device on the site of the structure. In cargo, explore the prospective price of cassette construction, which would involve loading panels and READY-FRAME together.
Another component of the price of digitizing design is being able to have the necessary knowledge in the long term.
“Being to analyze knowledge will give us the functions to further streamline the source chain,” Stephens said. “If I can know precisely what’s in the space and gather all my knowledge to know the length and type of window, it’s much less difficult to move back to brands and start pre-ordering. That is what scarcity has shown us.
The Midwest-based Palmer-Donavin distribution organization, led by CEO Rothroughn Pollina, has installed machines for greater protection and efficiency. The company has invested in the MaxxReach telescopic conveyor that can unload a cabinet shipment from an eight-hour task Another 3 people to just two hours.
“While it’s been a massive success, as a company we try to continually improve our procedures,” said Hunter Hudgins, operations control trainee for the distributor. “Lately there are two main tactics to improve the procedure. First, further automate the procedure. with automated palletizing, unloading robotics and automated guided cars for a simple garage. Also, streamline the garage workflow by minimizing movement and condensation of closet places on the floor.
Palmer-Donavin also invested in its door production services for problems with manual product handling and movement and high-precision manual machining that had many inconsistencies and repeatability issues.
“First, we added automated product movement in our prefinish department, allowing workers to focus on value-added responsibilities in addition to product logistics,” Hudgins said. “Think of a meeting line procedure than a one-piece flow. cars make all the trips mandatory while workers concentrate on value-added responsibilities such as portraying and dyeing.
The company also eliminated all manual machining operations and purchased CNC machines with precision and repeatability, as well as reducing education time. During this process, 3 handling steps were removed due to the dangers of product damage, sprains, strains and other injuries. .
Key to the evolution of knowledge analytics like Ben Beachy, executive director of data generation at an Ohio-based wood and construction fabric distributor, Keim says he’s creating an evidence-based decision-making culture, a procedure that has been more than complicated to manage. for distributors because of the wide variety of knowledge resources they manage.
“I see two globally excessive approaches to knowledge in the industry,” he said. “One is to forget it as confusing, exaggerated and irrelevant, rather than accepting it as true within the common sense that has brought us here. another is to rely too much on reports, algorithms, and analytics, simply to blindly track all the knowledge we have, whereever it turns out to lead. I need to locate a middle way, combining the wisdom of industry veterans and decades of experience, with the knowledge we gather in our systems. Try them opposite each other to refine them together. Possibly we would be measuring the wrong things. We can accept them as true with wisdom replaced. But we may not know either until we critically compare the two.
If that knowledge also gives a competitive advantage.
“Visitor interaction databases from the big players in the market give them an advantage in per-user personalization,” he said. “Time will tell if the little players can catch up. “
Beachy is solving the very complex challenge of how to get the right data to the right people, at the right time and in the right format, so they can make the right decisions.
“Part of the answer is to help other people perceive how the data they collect is being used in the organization,” he said. “I think at most other people need their paintings to be important and they will continue to be smart knowledge if they perceive the total picture. “
Brett Thorne is the operations manager for Thorne Lumber Company and two other Do it Best hardware retail outlets in Chillicothe, Missouri, and the host of the Building the Future podcast.
“When it comes to technology, my wisdom is incredible for our use,” he said. “On the other hand, the benefit of knowledge is everything I’m working on. Some of the most important things I do are the profitability rating of visitors that improves margin, sales strategies, visitor relationships, and time efficiency. We also participated in a roundtable and an annual activity cost exam in which we compared our knowledge with similar corporations to locate our gaps.
Finding suitable leads for you is complicated with all the other connection issues that exist today. Rick Davis, a professor of sales in the construction products industry and founder of Building Leaders, believes that the most successful sales platforms are those that offer a recurring style of referrals from satisfied customers.
Social media has become an even more pandemic-applicable generation and Davis chooses LinkedIn of all social media formats as the most suitable for proactive solicitation.
In distributing products for the structures industry, Davis believes the mistake made through many sellers and resellers is to allow dealers to systematically negotiate special offers for buyers as they are established, such as value discounts, terms, and delivery concessions. to difficulties after several buyers have exclusive donations and expectations. The enforcement procedure becomes overwhelming because each of the members of the selling organization will have to adapt to each of the consumer protocols.
At present, there are technologies, such as structural allocation control software models, that “empower” consumers to work within the limits of the popular operating model, with the same pricing and ordering protocol, which can produce better offers for both the supplier and the customer. , because surprises are minimized; expectations are clarified; sales prices are managed; and, more importantly, more effective operations.
Transportation continues to account for a significant portion of charge increases and would be a welcome innovation domain. An industry leader shared that implementing new responses for transportation will be a challenge, however, it did not need to be known due to the sensitivity around this issue. with corporate staff.
The industry faces more demanding situations than automated maximum delivery systems due to the variety of products and delivery locations. What is more likely than autonomous transport is a hybrid technique that includes autonomous transport on the road with human delivery by off-road remote control.
Many industry players expect self-origined chain cars or a truck that knows the delivery issues at the company’s warehouse.
E-commerce has slowly infiltrated the home improvement space, with giant stores like The Home Depot and Amazon making significant investments in 2018 and 2019 for DIY consumers, which in turn has influenced the need for contractors and professionals.
“We started thinking about it in 2019 when we saw marketers looking to place an order online,” said Grant Morrow, director of e-commerce systems at national hardline distribution company Orgill. “Then the pandemic crystallized all of that. positions, curbside pickup has the only option, so e-commerce has started to gain speed. “
Then, the industry had to only in operations and move away from this novelty in e-commerce due to the massive demand for building materials. By mid-2020, many distributors were rushing in orders, as the percentage of wallet went from the holidays to the house. Renovations.
Orgill is distributed to McLendon Hardware, with seven locations in the Seattle area, and its online sales before the pandemic were low. At the beginning of the pandemic, the online volume of retail outlets increased 25-fold. Since then, volume has stabilized at seven times before the pandemic, however, it has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
“This initial push in 2020 particularly replaced the idea of distributors being allowed to do,” Morrow said. “Contractors started looking for materials elsewhere due to shortages and were able to start ordering things to ship directly to the task site. and have discovered power gains, which will allow them to do more projects. Time is the enemy if they have to wait for products or make several trips.
This replacement brings a new service component that will be provided through the distributor; It is a convenience to have the order in a position for your customer, however, it is the next point of service expectation. Distributors also know how to deliver small batches to task sites and the fees that will be charged for this point of service.
“The store at the door is starting to be a hit for big stores like Target,” Morrow said. “It’s an expectation of service at the end of the day, and that’s what we tell our distributors to be careful. “
Orgill has invested heavily in e-commerce, adding product data control to enrich product knowledge and standardize it so resellers can have more and generate more sales. The company has just exceeded one million pieces in its catalog, which is the fundamental detail. of the company’s strategy, but it is also a consistent painting of progress.
Keim is working on this issue.
“Online grocery shopping is ripe, but it has hidden demanding situations around product knowledge and images,” Beachy said. “People in the LBM industry know how to market and sell in person; the next step is to be informed about how to collaborate well online with our business-to-business clients.