Pencil, Paper, Pictures. About 70% of Builders.’ Denver business is multifamily and commercial construction, primarily straight sticks delivered to job sites. Another 25% of sales involves trusses and wall panels, while the remaining 5% is for drywall, roofing, and windows and doors, which are direct-shipped to job sites.
The Denver division still uses the old paper-and-pencil method when scheduling deliveries, but with a modern twist on the backend.
“We believe in the old paper method. We keep on top of it and we know it works,” Stein explains. At a yard which has more than 15 deliveries a day, Stein says at least eight of those deliveries are “rammin’ and jammin’,” loaded with materials as they leave the yard. “That’s the objective,” he says.
The twist is that drivers are equipped with low-cost cameras, which they use to shoot photos of products from multiple angles before and after delivery. Chad says this has allowed Builders. to point out exactly where an item was unloaded and placed when customers come calling about missing items.
Despite the economic downturn, Stein has no fear about the fate of the Denver facility. “Experience teaches you that you can make it happen.
“This business does not tolerate excuses,” he says.
Chad echoes Stein’s sentiments and Builders.’ ability to meet the needs of its customers, no matter their size. “You can’t lose a feel for the people,” he says. “You have to have a take on what’s going to help your customer run their business.”
494Breaking Bread. Success is being shared in Denver with Chad bringing the gang together every week. Each Friday an employee cooks lunch for everyone; the fare ranges from steaks to burgers to Myron’s famous pancakes. The biggest lunch to date was made by plant workers who wanted to give back. They whipped up a feast of tortillas and fajitas.
“I’m making sure I do everything on my part to make the team successful,” says Chad.
The same goes for sales, with each member of the sales team helping the other get accounts. “We look at it as a team perspective,” says Chad. “Everyone pulls together.”
Another aspect of Builders.’ success was the addition of Dave Hoglund, vice president of purchasing and a 24-year industry veteran, who Myron pursued for more than a year.
“When I felt we needed more quality people I recruited Dave,” Myron says. “It took us a while to get him but we did.”
“I thought he was joking,” says Hoglund.
Hoglund’s responsibility is to bring a 1970s-era purchasing system into the 21st century, making product acquisition more efficient and streamlined.” Orders that once took the purchasing department days and evenings to fill are now taking minutes thanks to an Activant Falcon Replenish System, according to Hoglund.
“I wanted us to be the most highly automated, cost-efficient department in our industry,” he says.
Using the Activant program as a base, the company wrote its own program internally last year. On the pro side, the system is being used to forecast what types of jobs and packages will be sold based on their activity from the year before.
Kearney is responsible for all purchases company-wide, but what gets stocked where differs dramatically. Kearney has a retail SKU count of 32,500 with a yard SKU count of 30,735 inside and 1,765 outside. In comparison, Grand Island maintains a retail SKU count of 6,000 with a yard count of 4,725 inside and 1,275 outside. Kearney has 1,940 power tool SKUs alone, while Grand Island maintains about 950.
Builders. also made a $1.5 million investment in its Grand Island components plant. When and if things pick up, the plant will be more than ready with recent improvements, including an upgraded floor truss machine, a new wall panel line, horizontal auto stackers, and a new Omni Miser II linear saw.
Clark Brown, plant manager at Spelts Schultz trusses and wall panels in Grand Island, notes that trusses from the plant are delivered as far as the border of South Dakota, more than 160 miles away. One gets the impression that, at Builders., every job and every customer gets individual treatment.
“We take care of all of our customers, especially the smaller players,” Myron says. “We don’t drive them away.”
Read the Article, See the Movie
When ProSales visited Builders. president Myron Andersen, we brought along a film crew to document some of the trip. A clip featuring a sit-down interview with Andersen, along with a tour of some of Builders.’ retail and manufacturing facilities in Kearney, Neb., can be viewed on www.prosalesonline.com/builders.
