Assignment:
LP Challenges
1. Eddie would like you to review the current transportation system specifically for the locations served by the Regina DC. Eddie is curious to understand the tradeoffs between using the Regina DC versus potentially shipping direct as they do from Gatineau warehouse to the Central and Eastern locations. Your analysis must include both a qualitative and quantitative review of the system and a recommendation on the continued use of the Regina Distribution Centre. Eddie has provided LTL rates including their transit time from the national carrier that currently provides LTL service to the Central and Eastern Canadian cities and would like you to use these rates in your analysis. It is rare that the Regina DC holds units longer than a month and Eddie has instructed you to assume that in your calculations. Also, there is no indication that fuel surcharges will increase or decrease so for the purpose of your evaluation, assume this too will remain constant
2. Rebecca Millard, the Director of Marketing, has been pushing for expansion to external markets for years. The United States is oversaturated with folding bike producers however Europe appears to be an area of opportunity. Rebecca has met with a chain of boutique bicycle shops that is based in Frankfurt Germany and has locations in Spain and France. The supplier is eager to begin to carry CBC's model but has indicated that they will only work under CIP, FCA or DDP incoterms. The European customer would receive all shipments to their Frankfurt location. Distribution to their retail outlets will be handled by their own internal system to each of their stores. Eddie is only familiar with incoterms and has asked that you prepare an analysis of the three potential incoterms and a recommendation on which one would best suit CBC for this potential opportunity.
3. Juanita believes that it is only a matter of time before they need to begin sourcing parts outside of Canada. Although they have been successful in the past with keeping the identity of the company "entirely Canadian" she also understands that market pressure is going to make them uncompetitive on price in the near future. Because of this, Juanita would like to understand how sourcing parts from outside of Canada for manufacturing would impact the CBC's ability to sell their bicycle internationally. She specifically would like you to focus on International compliance when preparing this portion of your report.
4. Eddie believes that one opportunity being missed is recovering damages from the TL and LTL carriers. Last year, the shipping team estimated that one in six shipments had some form of damage to units. These are typically shipped back to CBC, the units salvaged for parts and the damaged parts discarded. Eddie would like you to develop a formal plan that could be implemented to recover damages from carriers when it occurs. Eddie would like you to develop a plan that describes each parties' responsibilities (CBC, the carrier, and the receiving party) when damage or loss occurs and what procedures may be implemented to allow CBC to recover damages when they occur. This discussion should focus on loss and damage prevention. Insurance should not be part of this discussion.