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EVENT RECAP: LBM Distribution Conference

Shawn RobertsShawn Roberts
CEO, Decks & Docks
Identifying and Expanding Your Margin Pools

Shawn Roberts has grown Decks and Docks from one location with 8 employees in 2005 to 12 locations with 80 employees today. In the process, Decks & Docks has gone from carrying 2,500 SKUS to more than 10,000. Roberts and his team have focused on product performance data to help increase the profit margins of each product in the company’s inventory. Roberts stressed that giving managers real objectives rather than just mathematical goals has been key to Deck & Dock’s successful expansion. Deck & Docks was not built around the company’s current margins, Roberts said. Instead, the company adjusted around the margins that it had the courage to shape.

Scott SommersScott Sommers
building center manager, Hartville Hardware and Lumber
Drive-Through Customer Experience

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When Hartville Hardware and Lumber expanded in 2010, the company constructed a 300,000 square foot facility on two levels, which includes a drive-through yard. The yard serves 75% pro and 25% retail business. The facility supports 150 cars a day going through the drive through. Sommers demonstrated how Hartville Hardware and Lumber is able to provide a positive retail experience for a high number of customers all while still serving as a working lumberyard while focusing on key areas that affect the customer experience: Appearance, signage, product quality and personnel.

Johan van TilburgJohan van Tillburg
president, Tindell’s
Driving Higher Turns

The average inventory turn for pro-oriented yards is 6.7, van Tilburg said. To calculate the rate at your yard, take your annual cost of goods sold and divide that by the average monthly inventory level. Returns need to be calculated from the highest level down to each and every unique SKU. Watch out for what van Tilberg calls “dead inventory.” If it hasn’t sold in six months, van Tilberg said, then donate it.

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Rick ZasloveRick Zaslove
president, Golden State Lumber
Creating a Company Culture

At Golden State Lumber, Zaslove said the focus isn’t always just on Golden State Lumber’s business—it’s on the customer’s business. As they do better, you’ll be more successful. To develop a company culture that breathes this kind of customer focus into the business, Golden State Lumber has created an employee round-table—a group that meets regularly to discuss new innovations for the company.

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