Carson Container Company Carson Container Company was a large regional plastic i

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Carson Container Company

Carson Container Company was a large regional plastic injection molding container manufacturing, supplying single-serving Container to small food and beverage producers, Carson had 30 plants, located primarily in the eastern part of the US. Their procurement procedure were not coordinated. Carson’s corporate headquarter had even encouraged plant managers to act as separate entitles. In Addition, each plant bought many items from local suppliers. Carson’s decentralized approach to procurement was indicative of its overall strategy toward dealing with its constituencies including employees, Customers, shareholders and communities.

The non- carbonated beverage market (specialty juices and waters) took off in the early twenty-first century, and thus demand for Carson’s bottles heated up. As it became clear that this trend would continue through the coming years, Carson faced increasing competitive pressure to drive prices down and company management recognized that dealing with such a fragmented supplier base was hindering “efficiency” at the company’s president, Michael Bundy, the company’s president hired an experienced material manager, Richard Haskell, in January of 2015 as Vice President of Corporate procurement anew positon in the company Bundy gave Haskell lots of flexibility in organizing his work and placed Stacie Fribergy as Heskell’s executive assistant . Friberg had worked for 15 years at Carson in several different positions and thus knew many plant employees, Haskell’s appointment was announced on the company’s intranet and in a memo to plant managers.

Haskell’s wanted to centralize the company’s procurement procedure and reduce the number of suppliers overall. To begin the process he asked each of the executives who handled materials management in the various plants to clear with headquarter all contractors over $100,000. Haskell thought that if headquarters was going to coordinate in a way that would help each plant and Carson overall, he had to know about contracts being negotiated at least a week before they were going to be signed. He discussed it with the board off directions, who approved the idea.

Carson’s plants made purchases and negotiated deals with suppliers continuously, but the beginning of its busiest buying season was only two weeks away when the new plan was put into place. Haskell drafted a memo to send to the 30 materials managers:

Dear Materials Manager:

Carson’s board of directors has approved a new procurement process. Henceforth, all materials managers in each plant will alert the vice president of corporate procurement about contracts above $100,000 which they plan to negotiate at least a week before the wday they will be signed.

I know you must understand that this change is critical to coordinate the procurement requirement at Carson and consolidate relationships with National suppliers when we are finding it more difficult to secure good deals at the local level. This step will provide us in the head office the information we need to see that each plan procures the optional supply of materials at the best prices. As a result the goals of each plant and for Carson as a whole will more likely be achieved.

Sincerely,

Richard Todd Haskell, II

Vice president, procurement

Haskell gave Stacie Frigberg the memo and asked for her input. She told him she thought the memo was great. She said, however, that since he had met only three of the materials managers, he might like to meet all of them and discuss procurement with each of them individually. Haskell declined because he had so many things to do at home and in his office that he was unable to travel. He also felt it would cost too much to visit all the plants, and he was keenly aware of the need to limit spending. Over the next few days, responses came in from all but a few plants. Some managers wrote longer responses, but the following email message was typical:

Dear Dick:

Welcome to the Carson! We wish you every success as the new procurement coordinator. We got your recent communication about notifying headquarter a week in advance of your intention to sign contracts with suppliers. This suggestion seems very practical. We would like to let you know that you can be sure of this plant’s cooperation in your new Job.

Best regards,

Over the next several weeks headquarters heard nothing from the plants about contracts being negotiated with suppliers. Carson executives in other departments who visited plants frequently reported reported that they were quite busy, and the usual procedure for that time of year continued.

Discuss the following questions:

1. What problems does Carson Container Company have that will affect its communications?

2. What specific problems does Mr. Haskell have as a result of his communication to materials managers?

3. What advice would you give Haskell to help solve his and Carson's problems?

Explanation / Answer

1. Problems that Carson Container company has:

2. Specific problems Mr. Haskell have:

3. Advice to Haskell:

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