Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Today we presented our research on our Controls topic for Accounting. This was a joint project encompassing both our Accounting and Communications classes. My group, made up of Darren (Smart & Final), Miguel (Costco), Christel (Safeway), Stephanie (Associated Foods), and Bill (Bristol Farms), chose Voice Recognition in Warehousing as our topic. In order to thouroughly research it we read tens of articles from journals and trade publications, contacted people in the industry that had brought such a system into their warehouses and toured a 700,000 square foot grocery warehouse in Commerce, CA to see it in action.
One of the really exciting things about the program is the contacts you make and the ease with which information becomes available. Throughout our research for various presentations we've been able to call upon executives at several companies and they've been very helpful in getting us any informatiton we need.
Our goal for the presentation was to make a persuasive pitch for implementing the control in a real life situation. While we certainly wouldn't win any academy awards for best story, we tried to make it as interesting as possible by showing a very short live demonstration of how the system works and some video of it in action at a warehouse. We're still learning the ropes of presenting, but we've already improved quite a bit. On the other hand, our ability to critically evaluate presentations has also improved quite a bit and we felt that we didn't do as well as we could have. That said, the class rated our presentation as the best overall. In their evaluations they also gave us some things to work on in order to get even better in the future, as did professors Miles and Davila.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Day 46
Monday, March 24, 2008
Today after class we took a trip to the new Stater Brothers warehouse and corporate offices in San Bernadino. We were welcomed by Jack Brown, Stater's CEO, Jim Lee, President, and several of their top executives. They spent the whole afternoon with us talking about the history of their company, what they do and how they've grown it over the years. We were then able to tour their new 2 million square foot warehouse facility which is the largest grocery warehouse under one roof in the United States.
Jack gave us a lot of personal insights into his life, what he thinks is important and how he treats his people. The whole experience was a real treat and it's just so nice that they're willing to give us this level of access.
Today after class we took a trip to the new Stater Brothers warehouse and corporate offices in San Bernadino. We were welcomed by Jack Brown, Stater's CEO, Jim Lee, President, and several of their top executives. They spent the whole afternoon with us talking about the history of their company, what they do and how they've grown it over the years. We were then able to tour their new 2 million square foot warehouse facility which is the largest grocery warehouse under one roof in the United States.
Jack gave us a lot of personal insights into his life, what he thinks is important and how he treats his people. The whole experience was a real treat and it's just so nice that they're willing to give us this level of access.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Days 42-45
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Wendy and Logan arrived at LAX about 9pm last night. I'm very happy Wendy was willing to fly down and visit, both so that I could see them and so they could meet my new friends and enjoy some of the California weather. Wendy's been a real trooper and flying with a 17 month old who wants to jump down and run around on the airplane wasn't easy. This was Logan's first airplane ride and while he liked it and thought the turbulence was funny, it's a long time for him to sit in one place and Wendy had her hands full keeping him occupied and using his "indoor voice."
We didn't have classes today, but instead Jim Lee, President and COO of Stater Brothers' Markets, came and spoke to us along with the folks here this week for the FIM Executive Program (including Andrew). Jim was great and talked a lot about his experience with Ralph's, Wild Oats, and now Stater. I've been very impressed with all of our speakers and the candor with which they speak. They'll answer any question you ask if they possibly can and give very personal accounts of how they made it to where they are now.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Since we had today off, I took Wendy and Logan down to the beach. Logan had never been to a beach with actual sand before and at first he didn't like it. He kept trying to brush it off of his hands and feet, but after about ten minutes of sitting on the sand he started playing with it and dumping it into and out of a bucket while Wendy buried his feet in the sand. We only stayed for about an hour so that he didn't get too much sun, but we had a great time.
Above, Logan and Daddy. Below, Logan playing with Mommy.
After the beach we stopped at Bristol Farms to pick up a few things for dinner. They're probably the closest thing to a Haggen there is down here, except perhaps Gelson's, but neither one is as big, as nice, or as friendly as a Haggen, on top of which their prices are out of sight. That said, they're still neat stores with some interesting and unusual items and Bristol's meat program is pretty terrific (including their dry aged beef).
Three of my friends - Ron (Unified), Michelle (Dole), and Dawn (Safeway) - came over for dinner and we had a great time. It was nice for Wendy to get to talk with them some more and hear from other people what the program was all about and what they thought of it. Ron also scored some big points with Wendy by bringing Logan an Easter basket with some trucks and other fun stuff to play with in it.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Today we took Logan to the L.A. zoo. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking very smart about the trip and we didn't leave until noon. The Zoo is only about 25 miles away, but it ended up taking us two and half hours to get there because of the traffic. When we got there it was in the low 90's so most of the animals weren't too excited about getting up and moving around. We still had fun and Logan really liked the Giraffes and Zebras.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Wendy and Logan flew back to Bellingham this morning and I got back to business. It was great having them here and now I feel like we're coming into the home stretch.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Day 41
My apologies for going so long without an update. After my last posting the workload seemed to increase exponentially and it's taken until now for all of us to get unburied. I'll try to catch up from where I left off, but may post some things out of order, so if you're interested go back and look for the gaps to be filled in from time to time. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Today we took part in an exercise called Meta-4 in the Experiential Learning Center and it was by far the best and most fun of the three we've completed during the program. The goal (though we didn't know it when we started) was for the whole class to collaborate in what I can best describe as a game in which we had to exchange scarce resources and build trust to be successful. I'd explain the specifics, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone who may have the chance to take part in it in the future. As it turned out, Dawn and I lead the group to a record breaking victory, with a lot of help and cooperation from everyone else. We were able to attain complete success in five rounds which our instructors told us they've never seen before with any of the more than 2000 groups for which they've run the exercise - from undergraduate and MBA students to professionals and executives. After this level of success with the whole class working together in one group we were all walking on clouds for the rest of the day. This probably wasn't the most important thing we'll learn or do while we're here at the USC FIM program, but I'm sure we'll all remember it as one of the high points and one of the things that's helped us become a family. Several of our professors have remarked on how our class has really come together as one group without any fragmenting or cliques and I couldn't agree more. I can't imagine a better group of people to share this experience with.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Today we took part in an exercise called Meta-4 in the Experiential Learning Center and it was by far the best and most fun of the three we've completed during the program. The goal (though we didn't know it when we started) was for the whole class to collaborate in what I can best describe as a game in which we had to exchange scarce resources and build trust to be successful. I'd explain the specifics, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone who may have the chance to take part in it in the future. As it turned out, Dawn and I lead the group to a record breaking victory, with a lot of help and cooperation from everyone else. We were able to attain complete success in five rounds which our instructors told us they've never seen before with any of the more than 2000 groups for which they've run the exercise - from undergraduate and MBA students to professionals and executives. After this level of success with the whole class working together in one group we were all walking on clouds for the rest of the day. This probably wasn't the most important thing we'll learn or do while we're here at the USC FIM program, but I'm sure we'll all remember it as one of the high points and one of the things that's helped us become a family. Several of our professors have remarked on how our class has really come together as one group without any fragmenting or cliques and I couldn't agree more. I can't imagine a better group of people to share this experience with.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Day 38
Friday March 14, 2008
Today was our first day off in over a month. We didn't have any classes and although we have a lot of work to do this weekend, it was great to take a morning off and get outside. Some of my friends talked me into going golfing with them on the Westchester course which is just about 15 minutes away. I don't golf, but John and Jimmy gave me some pointers and by the thirteenth hole I was doing OK.
Did I sink this put? Tony McAndrews from Bristol Farms and John Ignacio from Safeway watch and give me pointers (or give me a hard time).
Today was our first day off in over a month. We didn't have any classes and although we have a lot of work to do this weekend, it was great to take a morning off and get outside. Some of my friends talked me into going golfing with them on the Westchester course which is just about 15 minutes away. I don't golf, but John and Jimmy gave me some pointers and by the thirteenth hole I was doing OK.
After golfing I took a quick nap and spent the rest of the day working on projects.
Below Gary Hunt from Food4Less and I are waiting for the rest of the crew.
Did I sink this put? Tony McAndrews from Bristol Farms and John Ignacio from Safeway watch and give me pointers (or give me a hard time).
Week 8
Monday March 10 - Thursday March 13, 2008
This week was mostly about communications. We received "feedforward" from Donna Miles on our Trend Analysis presentations, we worked on written communications and then we all redid the opening of our Trends and presented it in front of the whole class. By the time we got through it everyone was a bit drained.
Right after class on Wednesday, my group for accounting/communications ran down to Commerce to visit Smart & Final's distribution center and see their voice recognition system in action. We had a fabulous tour of their 400,000 sq. ft. warehouse and got a tremendous amount of information that will help us with our next presentation.
Finally, we posted our FIMSIM results through 8 "weeks." My team is now in second place, but we're confident we can get the lead back and finish strong.
This week was mostly about communications. We received "feedforward" from Donna Miles on our Trend Analysis presentations, we worked on written communications and then we all redid the opening of our Trends and presented it in front of the whole class. By the time we got through it everyone was a bit drained.
Right after class on Wednesday, my group for accounting/communications ran down to Commerce to visit Smart & Final's distribution center and see their voice recognition system in action. We had a fabulous tour of their 400,000 sq. ft. warehouse and got a tremendous amount of information that will help us with our next presentation.
Finally, we posted our FIMSIM results through 8 "weeks." My team is now in second place, but we're confident we can get the lead back and finish strong.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Day 33
Friday, March 7, 2008
Today was a long one. We had an extra four hours of Accounting today, with Reuben Davila, talking about the inventory cycle and managerial accounting. I rather enjoyed it, but by the end most of my classmates' eyes were a bit glazed.
After accounting those of us who had gone home over Presidents' Day weekend dashed south to Orange County to meet Tom Arnold for store tours. We started at Trader Joe's, which was nothing new to me, then on to Growers' Direct Produce. Growers' Direct was amazing, just about 6,000 sq. ft. and about 350 SKU's total. The product was the best I've seen down anywhere here and the prices were also the lowest by far - a true category killer.
Next was Mother's Natural Foods which reminded me of a small version of the food coop in Bellingham, except that they had a room to the right as you entered with over 80,000 SKU's (no I didn't add a zero) of vitamins and supplements. I'd guess there was probably well over $1 million of inventory at retail just in there.
After Mother's we went to Hi-Time Wine Cellars and I was blown away. The store was immense and they had more kinds of wine and liquor (and a pretty decent selection of beer) than I knew existed. The cellar was a labyrinth that wound its way beneath the store with thousands and thousands of individual selections ranging from $6 to over $600 per bottle. I can't imagine trying to shop there unless you really knew what you were looking for, but it was truly one of a kind and well worth seeing. These first four stores were all within five blocks of each other.
The tour ended at Bristol Farms in Newport Beach where Tony McAndrews, one of our classmates from Bristol, led us through the store. The store manager is actually Bill Veeder, the other one of our Bristol classmates, so they knew we were coming and treated us very well - grilling up some of their 21 day aged New York steaks for us to sample. Bristol Farms reminded me a lot of Haggen, but is about half the size of one of our stores and focuses a bit more exclusively on the upscale customer. They only build their stores where there's an average household income of over $100,000.
The tour ended just before 3pm and, in order to avoid the traffic back to Marina Del Rey, ten of us decided to go next door to Gulf Stream and have dinner before heading back. We had a good time and probably saved ourselves two and half hours of sitting on the freeway.
Today was a long one. We had an extra four hours of Accounting today, with Reuben Davila, talking about the inventory cycle and managerial accounting. I rather enjoyed it, but by the end most of my classmates' eyes were a bit glazed.
After accounting those of us who had gone home over Presidents' Day weekend dashed south to Orange County to meet Tom Arnold for store tours. We started at Trader Joe's, which was nothing new to me, then on to Growers' Direct Produce. Growers' Direct was amazing, just about 6,000 sq. ft. and about 350 SKU's total. The product was the best I've seen down anywhere here and the prices were also the lowest by far - a true category killer.
Next was Mother's Natural Foods which reminded me of a small version of the food coop in Bellingham, except that they had a room to the right as you entered with over 80,000 SKU's (no I didn't add a zero) of vitamins and supplements. I'd guess there was probably well over $1 million of inventory at retail just in there.
After Mother's we went to Hi-Time Wine Cellars and I was blown away. The store was immense and they had more kinds of wine and liquor (and a pretty decent selection of beer) than I knew existed. The cellar was a labyrinth that wound its way beneath the store with thousands and thousands of individual selections ranging from $6 to over $600 per bottle. I can't imagine trying to shop there unless you really knew what you were looking for, but it was truly one of a kind and well worth seeing. These first four stores were all within five blocks of each other.
The tour ended at Bristol Farms in Newport Beach where Tony McAndrews, one of our classmates from Bristol, led us through the store. The store manager is actually Bill Veeder, the other one of our Bristol classmates, so they knew we were coming and treated us very well - grilling up some of their 21 day aged New York steaks for us to sample. Bristol Farms reminded me a lot of Haggen, but is about half the size of one of our stores and focuses a bit more exclusively on the upscale customer. They only build their stores where there's an average household income of over $100,000.
The tour ended just before 3pm and, in order to avoid the traffic back to Marina Del Rey, ten of us decided to go next door to Gulf Stream and have dinner before heading back. We had a good time and probably saved ourselves two and half hours of sitting on the freeway.
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