The Last Days of Target

[dapaterson]

Fascinating article about the failure of Target's supply chain in Canada.  Lots of interesting points for logisticians to consider - including the requirement, from time to time, to tell the boss "Optimism does not replace proper planning".

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/the-last-days-of-target-canada/

 

[cavalryman]

Considering how much fun DND had in implementing SAP for materiel management, I could feel for the Target folks reading that article.  All things considered, the MASIS project seems to have done much better, but then we did take a few years longer.

 

[Halifax Tar]

Very Good article.  Being a Sup Tech I particularly found the SAP bit(s) interesting and I think I can see some similar issues we had upon roll out.

But and it must be noted that the SAP/DRMIS roll out; and road too said roll out, was much better planned and organized than the MIMS version in 2001, when we just turned TNR off and MIMS on and hoped for the best, which consequently did not happen.

While SAP is a great program my only problem with it is it is way to complected for something that should be a simple job, military supply chain operation.  In 2016 I should need to go through various SAP screens and then CGCS to do simple things like receipts and issues. 

I have noticed the rise of Stat-whores in my trade now.  It kind of reminds me of the TNR days when rejects were a big deal, well now people seem more concerned with how their stats look than the accuracy of what is on their shelves.

 

[Occam]

Former employees describe decoding SAP as like peeling an onion—it had multiple layers and made you want to cry.

Sums up the experience with DRMIS nicely.

 

[George Wallace]

The one thing I did not see in the article was "Pricing".  Many Canadians who had visited Target in the States went for the low prices.  Target's ads leading up to their expansion into Canada lead many to believe that they would be able to enjoy those low prices here as well.  When the doors opened and the prices were not competitive with the local well established competition, there was no cause to switch shopping habits.  Not even their going out of business prices were enough of a deal to draw in shoppers.

 

[Kirkhill]

My takeaway from that was that there is no escaping the need for time and that you can't plan perfection into any project.

Youth expects a plan to move in a straight line.  Experience says the Pugh was right and the you advance in circles, iterating to your end goal.

 

[ModlrMike]

I've read that the most serious error Target made was to settle for just the leases. The did not take over the staff or supply chains that Zellers had, resulting in no understanding of the Canadian market. Unlike Home Depot for example that bought a stable of medium sizes stores and let them continue under their own names for a time, so that the HD Canada identity could be grown from Canadian roots. The stores were later rebranded as HD properties.

 

[Franko]

Overpriced merchandise + lack of selection + use of old Zellers locations with same flooring/ carpets = fail