Selling in to WalMart
Selling in to WalMart
(OP)
http:// www.fastco mpany.com/ magazine/1 02/open_sn apper.html
I'm maybe not so stunned by being able to put a lawnmower together in 108 seconds as the journalist is... after all that is almost 1 man-hour, but the rest of the article is interesting.
I'm maybe not so stunned by being able to put a lawnmower together in 108 seconds as the journalist is... after all that is almost 1 man-hour, but the rest of the article is interesting.
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.





RE: Selling in to WalMart
RE: Selling in to WalMart
RE: Selling in to WalMart
Great article- thanks for the posting.
The province of Ontario, Canada's most populous and most industrialized province, lost 33,000 net manufacturing jobs this MONTH...
RE: Selling in to WalMart
3600 man•seconds / 29 man = 124 seconds
Greg: "B+" Maybe a little off on his math, but extra credit for trying.
moltenmetal: "D-" for not even bothering to do the math.
RE: Selling in to WalMart
Ok, where does 29 man come from?
RE: Selling in to WalMart
"The main manufacturing line for Snapper's entry-level walk-behind mowers--with 28 people--was recently charged with producing 265 lawn mowers in an eight-hour shift."
Your'e off one, Tick.
RE: Selling in to WalMart
Actually, simply dividing time by persons is probably misleading. There is no indication as to how the work is distributed. If it's like most manufacturing enterprises, there are probably a couple unsung individuals pulling the weight for a bunch of slackers.
RE: Selling in to WalMart
Gross 33.125 mowers per hour
80% of 33.125 is 26 mowers per hour
20% of the 28 doing 80% of the work is 5.6 workers
Therefore:
The 6 "self motivated" workers build 26 out of 33 mowers per hour. That's 4.3 mowers per "self motivated" worker per hour.
So in reality, it takes 14 minutes to assemble a mower on a good day.
The other 22 workers are busy:
- making the other 7 1/8 mowers per hour;
- creating the 12 mowers per hour of "rework" the data doesn't indicate;
- drinking coffee, smoking, or surfing the internet;
- talking about reality TV from the night before;
- suggesting that the shop unionize because pay is so bad;
- or they are scheming about how to collect workers compensation for the next twelve weeks.
I'll digress...
RE: Selling in to WalMart
I personally think that the CEO of Snapper is bloody smart for loosening ties with Walmart, Walmart's price competitiveness can only hurt quality goods manufacturers.
I also wonder could this be the start of a quality produced goods market emerging, ie. All the crap (read. Chinese made) goods stay at Walmart at low low prices and at low low low quality for all those cheapskates and others who shop there, while all the quality goods manufacturers target the discerning buyer who wants to buy a mower that will make his lawn look great and that will last until his kids turn grey.
My bias is towards the latter, I'd rather buy a $900 mower now and have it last 15 years, than buy a $100 mower and have it last a few months.
RE: Selling in to WalMart
RE: Selling in to WalMart
Unfortunately Western society is a throw away one, we buy, use a few times and throw away or ignore, Walmart appeals to some but not to me, currently they're expanding into food products......I'd rather not buy my food from the same place that sells pet food and automobile parts.
As for the death of manufacturing, the article is an excellent example of how manufacturing can stay here, be cost competitive (lower logistics and transport costs) and have significantly higher quality than that available via outsourcing.
Unfortunately for some reason people want cheaper and crapper over more expensive and better, so in those cases it's better to outsource. However my point was that there appears to be a growing market segment developing for discerning buyers and Snapper's break may be the frist of many....I hope :)
RE: Selling in to WalMart
Back then (pre-WWW) the high-quality products were generally pretty small in total sales and few of the names were widely known. Today, companies like Snap-On tools have the WWW in addition to their traditional jobbers-in-vans and they can sell to shade-tree mechanics (if there are any left in the world) and car restorers at volumes many times those of the '70s.
The quality-product market is not new, it is just getting bigger due to non-traditional marketing oportunities. I see Wal-Mart as a phenonem of the late 20th century that will be long gone (as a significant force in the world) by the end of the 21st century.
David
RE: Selling in to WalMart
It is then sold at a huge discount to the Sear's employees.
Of course, this isn't exactly a recipe for success and Sears has been suffering a lot over recent years.
They had to remove the unlimited lifetime warrany for riding mowers because folks decided "what the heck, if I run over a stob or two, hit a rock, well heck, I'll just take it back."
ALso, guys were buying mowers designed for the average Joe to do his backyard once a week and using them as part of their commercial enterprises.....
But that's enough about lawnmowers from me.... I got really burned by you guys when I complained about the poor design of some of these mowers from the low price end of the market...
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Selling in to WalMart
Later, I won a Sears Craftsman in a new christmas romance...still today, I'll confess I'll never forget that Snapper!
wishing you well
Best regards
pennpoint
RE: Selling in to WalMart
you bring a smile to my day.... I can just imagine the lawyers fighting over who got the lawnmower.... (you could have conceded the snapper and used what you saved in legal fees to buy a new one?) and I never figured a Sears Craftsman as a romantic gift before....what a loss to the romatic writers that they have never realised the potential for a lawnmower.... the closest was DH Lawrence when he introduced the gardener as the object of the heroines affections....perhaps we can sell the idea to Hollywood... in fact, after the success of that film about the old boy who traveled across the US on his riding lawnmower, I'm surprised there have been no sequals.
Engineers!
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Selling in to WalMart
This is a big thing to me, primarily b/c I wasn't born in the 70's but from what I gather that is a decade that should never ever come back....ahhh crap it already did, well at least the 80s haven't come ba.....ahhh crap.
Anyway while the Wal-Mart model is successful at present, it appears that North Americans are becoming more selective about their purchases as the economy changes.
In my opinion as we have less disposable income we're beginning to buy for the long run and we want our money to go far, obviously there will still be those who think cheaper is just as good, however it appears that more and more people are realising that you get what you pay for......or it could be that I'm biased b/c I'm from a European background.
RE: Selling in to WalMart
Think of the Pony Express. A great idea to "quickly" move information that lasted less than a decade and was overtaken by techonology.
I see Wal-Mart in the same light--they introduced sophisticated computerized inventory-contol/stocking-mix when all of their competition was using "gut feel". They became the model for the world in managing inventory and picking the list of thigs to put on their limited shelf space. Now everyone from Sears to Mom & Pop grocery can do the same thing and most are. When everyone follows a similar model you are back to customer service as the differentiating factor, and everyone does that better than Wal-Mart. Hence my assertion that by the end of this century the company will have long since stopped being a factor in the world economy.
David
David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
www.muleshoe-eng.com
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The harder I work, the luckier I seem
RE: Selling in to WalMart
Lawnmowers at Christmas?? Around here a romantic gift is a snow blower!!!
But seriously, Snapper is known for quality product. Wal-Mart is known for selling a lower cost and lower quality product. (Not that that’s bad in itself, just incompatible with the Snapper market positioning.)
To me it makes sense not to sell through Wal-Mart in this case. They may sell fewer mowers but they will not be used for down selling cheaper mowers either. They will maintain their high end brand identity and support their dealer network.
House branding would also be the end of their high end sells. Why buy a full price Snapper when you can buy a Wal-Mart by Snapper at less cost? Then when the quality is not there you forget the low price and blame Snapper for poor quality.
Pricing engineering services is along the same lines. When I almost doubled my rates I got about twice as busy. People value things based on what they pay for them and sometimes are willing to pay more for perceived quality when that perception is based on the higher price.
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com
RE: Selling in to WalMart
hmmm I never thought about how Walmart was different back in the day, but that makes sense to me. I was looknig at it from a macroeconomic point of view, and on personal experience. I'm a young man just starting a family and trying to float a mortgage etc. etc. cheese with my whine....
anyway what I see in my personal situation and those of friends in my age category is the rising cost of living compared to a decade or two ago, people my age tend to be very selective about what we buy. We have little disposable income and thus spend it on one or two good quality objects or a quality education rather than on junk, ie. we're more discerning due to our limited income situation.
RDK,
Your points are pretty much what I gathered from the article as well. I suppose that's why so many companies spend a fortune on branding. I think that a good understanding in human psychology is a perfect framework for understanding good branding strategy. I mean if I needed to subcontract out work I'd feel more secure in using the more expensive company for two reasons:
1) I'd wonder why the other company is so much cheaper, what flaws do they have.
2) I'd know that by using the higher priced company I would be able to demand more to justify the high price
RE: Selling in to WalMart
I do try to give more for the money and will no longer charge for some minor extras. (long distance phone calls for example)
About the same time that I was doubling my rates a friend was trying to start a computer repair business.
He was charging $CDN 15 an hour for service. He could not get enough to even pay for some advertising. After he packed it in he went to work for a local computer service firm and was easily charged out at $50 an hour to some of the same people who would not hire him for $15.
Yes with the firm there was some value added in terms of other resources and help available, but I believe that had he charged $45 an hour he would still be in business for himself.
If you only value your time (or lawnmowers) that cheaply then why should I be bothered with them when I want quality for my money even if it costs more money?
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com
RE: Selling in to WalMart
RE: Selling in to WalMart
They are all built to the outlets own specifications.
so you will not get a equal for equal price.
If you think this is new, I discovered this in 1990 while shopping for a new refrigerator.
Brand names dont have the same prestige as they used to...many are willing to corrupt themselves.
Its sad
Best regards
pennpoint
RE: Selling in to WalMart
this is the "Confusopoly" appraoch at work...
Here are a couple of links to start you off but you will see that the concept, defined by SCott Adams, has entered general usage.
ht
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2000/11/2/74555/4233
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: Selling in to WalMart
Good point. I worked at Maytag for several months and was assigned to a dumb down project just for that purpose.
To make a less quality machine to sell to the Giants. Well It is hurting the independant retailers. and they own a store in our hometowns and pay taxes like we do and if they go then we pay more taxes.
RE: Selling in to WalMart
In the mid to late 80's Sam Walton of Wal Mart was expanding quickly into small towns in the south. As a part of returning to the local communities where his stores were located and the "Buy American" marketing approach of that time Sam Walton began to source clothing and other items from smaller outfits. More than one manager though it was a prank call when a someone on the phone would identify himself as Sam Walton and and request buy flannel shirts from his small garment company.
But then Sam Walton died, and the new breed of execs began to run the company. Now their quality is as low as their prices and I dont shop there as much as I used to.
RE: Selling in to WalMart
RE: Selling in to WalMart
I clicked on your link and received the ad but the video never started. I tried a second time and still the video did not start. This linked site is just a get rich site so far as I am concerned.
RE: Selling in to WalMart
RE: Selling in to WalMart