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receiving, picking, staging, loading, delivery,

invoicing) the frst time.

Perhaps more importantly, it tells you WHY you

didnt get it right the frst time. Identiying whats

not working and why its not working allows you

to fx it. Some LBM businesses are systematically

addressing the root causes o their OTIF ailures.

The end result is that theyre improving service and

lowering their operating costs. That matters more

than ever in todays market.

Some companies have achieved outstanding

OTIF percentages in the mid-90s range. That

level o perormance is a result o intentional and

disciplined eort. But the perormance number

isnt nearly as important as WHY you have it.

Understanding the why is where the true value

and power o OTIF resides. Heres how some LBM

dealers have used OTIF to improve service and their

bottom lines.

HOW TO MEASURE

First and oremost, you need a uniorm way to

measure OTIF. On-time is defned as delivering the

order to the customer when you promised. The

measurement is the commitment the organization

made, not necessarily the time the customer

requested. For example, i an order was promised

beore noon on Tuesday or beore 8 a.m. on

Wednesday, did you meet that deadline? Simply

because the customer requested delivery in an

hour doesnt mean thats the yardstick. Your

commitment is the yardstick. Can you do what

you said you would when you said you would?

Are you reliable? Can your customer count on you

all day, every day?

Jackson Lumber & Millwork in Lawrence, Mass.,

began implementing OTIF six years ago. The

more credible you become, the less anxious your

customer is, says company vice president Joe

Torrisi. The customer trusts that were going to

get the order there when promised so we get

more realistic delivery requests. For example,

i they need the order ater lunch they used to

request a frst-out. Now, theyll say they need it

by 11 a.m. and weve got a frst-out slot reed

up or a true frst out.

The Power of OTIF

P

R

O

S

A

L

E

S

W

H

IT

E

P

A

P

E

R

OTIF: All day, every day.

OTIF is an acronym or on-time

and in-ull. It measures an

organizations perormance on

getting customers exactly what

they want when promised. In

short, it measures how well a

company can get it right the frst

time. Getting it right the frst time

improves service and lowers costs.

Todays ferce margin pressure is orcing business

improvements across the board. While price

matters, weve also seen renewed emphasis on

service. Price, which has to be competitive, is the

order qualifer but service is the order winner. In

a market where every dollar matters, customers

are paying even more attention to price and

the cost o doing business. Getting what they

want when they need it remains the service gold

standard. Thats why OTIF matters. Measuring your

companys OTIF perormance lets you know how

oten youre getting it right the frst time. It tellsyou how oten you can get the right stu to the

right place at the right time in the right condition

with the right invoice.

Theres a tendency to look at OTIF as a delivery

service scorecard. Youll hear some say, We

dont measure OTIF because were really good

on deliveries. OTIF is much more than a delivery

service record. It is a whole organizational

metric. It measures an organizations ability to

get everything right (the sales order, special

order coordination, manuacturing, sourcing,

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In-ull measures order accuracy. It counts as

in-ull when everything ordered is delivered with

no errors, backorders, or substitutions. The

measurement has to be rigorous because thats

how our customers view it, says a dealer in the

Northeast. I were missing one box o nails or

any item, the customer didnt get everything he

wanted and needed.

Measuring substitutions is also important.

Substituting 2x4x14s or 2x4x12s doesnt seem

like a big deal but theres an underlying issue

that should be addressed: In this case, inventory

levels on 12s are insufcient. Its an inventory

management issue, says the Northeast dealer.

You dont have enough o one item and youre

creating a alse demand or another. How do

you ever balance your inventory? The customer

may not mind and oten

may not be aware o

substitutions and thats

good or service. However,

its still an OTIF ailure.

Theres an insufcient

inventory management

system and its adding

additional operating costs.

OTIF is a black-and-white

metric. You make it or you

dont. Period.

NOT WHAT

BUT WHY

Ive got an OTIF o

92%! Thats excellent

perormance. The important

question now is, Whats the

biggest driver o your OTIF

ailures? Answering this question shows the true

value o OTIF. Whats getting in the way o getting it

right the frst time?

As OTIF perormance is measured, ailures and the

reasons or them are tracked. Generally these all

into our categories: vendor issues, customer issues,

internal issues, or other.

Vendor:includeslateshipments,partial

shipments, or wrong items sent.

Customer:includeswrongdeliveryinformation

provided by the customer, last-minute changes/

add-ons.

Internal:includessalesorderentrymistakes,

inadequate time allowed or special orders,

inventory out-o-stocks, manuacturing error,

delivery error.

Other:weatherissuesorrailstrikesandthelike.

Tracking the reasons or OTIF ailures provides datathat help identiy the root cause o the ailure. This

enables organizations to identiy and implement

permanent system fxes. That in turn improves OTIF,

which improves service and lowers costs.

DRIVING SERVICE AND

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS

With my clients, the largest area o OTIF ailures

has always been internal. Break out the tracking

or internal issues into subcategories: sales;

inventory; operations; distribution; manuacturing.

The largest drivers

o OTIF ailures at

this level vary rom

company to company

but the majority include

inventory in the Top 2.

INVENTORY

MANAGEMENT

IMPROVEMENTS

An LBM dealer in

the Northeast with

multiple locations used

OTIF data to identiy

inventory management

weaknesses and

eliminate them.

Inventory was its

largest category o OTIF

ailures. Digging into the data, company leaders

ound that out-o-stocks and special orders were

the two primary drivers. With that inormation in

hand, the dealer ormed an Improvement Team

(manager, buyer, yard oreman, outside salesman)

to investigate urther and recommend ways to

eliminate or minimize the problem.

The Improvement Team looked at individual

orders and identifed a handul o core issues.

These included problems with the timing o

receiving, the timing o transers, out-o-date min/

max triggers, no consistent communication rom

sales on unusually large order quantities, and

order-picking errors.

Improved Sales Support accurate

inventory, higher order fill rates.

Better Customer Service fewer picking

errors, accurate, more visible real timeinventory information.

Customer Satisfaction Higher fills rates,

meet customer expectation for order and

delivery requirements, on time as promised,

and out perform the competition.

What Does Our Advanced WarehouseSystem Mean for Parksite Customers?

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Over the course o nine months, the team

addressed these issues and implemented

permanent system fxes. We started looking at

our receiving process and ound we had little

discipline or consistency on how we received

product at each location, says the owner. There

were instances o product hitting the ground at

the yard and not being received into our system

or our days. Not surprisingly, during that

our-day window product was picked, loaded, and

delivered. Inventory counts were way o.

As the dealer started to address receiving, it

prompted a hard look at the physical space and

location o product at each yard. Ultimately,

the company implemented a strong inventory

management system that started with a location

system (every product has an assigned space in

the yard, warehouse, or store). It also revised the

min/max numbers, deployed a cycle countingsystem, adjusted what products were available

at each location to reduce transers, and included

purchasing notifcations in the sales process on

high order quantities.

The OTIF data really showed us where our

biggest problems were, says the owner. We

overhauled our business processes and were

able to eliminate out-o-stocks on A and high

B items. Implementation o the location system,

cycle counting, and receiving process changes

enabled us to reduce our inventory rom 12% o

sales to 7.4% o sales. At the same time, the

company improved its OTIF perormance rom

78% to 92%.

The whole process took some time. However the

management team now has a dierent way o

thinking about the business. In turn, that led toa dierent and better way o managing the

business and its resources. This dealer was able to

reduce its investment in inventory by more than

$1.7 million.

MANUFACTURING

Another LBM dealer has been measuring OTIF

or more than fve years. The data provided was

used to implement signifcant improvements in

managing its manuacturing and distribution

eorts. When we started measuring OTIF we were

at 64%, says the owner. Were currently running

at 83%.

Over the last fve years, the dealer systematically

addressed the obstacles to getting it right the

frst time. It changed its order process. When sales

sta took orders or manuactured items, the

orders went right into the plant or production

based on the initial date requested. We ound

that oten, builders would push the date back

but wed already built the doors, says the owner.

We had to store them and were handling them

more, which is all more cost and opportunity or

error. The OTIF data indicated material handling

damage and delays rom locating the old orders

were negatively impacting perormance. So the

company fxed it. Permanently.

Now, we have an automatic e-mail notice

that goes to the salesperson a week beorethe requested date, the owner explains. The

salesperson has to send an acknowledgement

back to manuacturing beore the order is released

or production. Once the acknowledgement is

received the order is scheduled, built the ollowing

day, and then shipped the third day. We dont

have any built orders hanging around in the

warehouse, he adds. OTIF improved and the

company lowered its operating costs.

SALES ORDER PROCESS

A dealer in the West achieved substantial

improvements in the sales order process with

great impact on OTIF. Analyzing the companys

OTIF data management ound that a large

contributor to ailures traced back to the sales

process. Commitments were being made or

special orders that couldnt be met. Delivery

addresses and instructions were not complete.

Contact numbers or builders or job supers were

not included on orders or entered into customer

fles in the computer system. Commitments

were made or frst-out deliveries when they

werent available.

Advanced WarehouseManagement System

Parksite not only takes pride in

providing leading brands like

DuPont Tyvek, AZEK and Nichiha;

we are dedicated to providing the

best service possible in support of our

brands. That is why we invested in our

Advanced Warehouse System that

has earned us a ProSales Excellence

Award in Technology.

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Clearly, its hard to be successul when

expectations are set that cannot be met. This

company embarked upon an education process

with its sales team. The sales team was given

training on a new computer system to fll the skill

gaps. This training included a strong process on

how to make delivery commitments to prevent

overbooking frst runs. The team began tracking

quote and sales order entry and ollow-up.

Individual salesperson perormance is now tracked

and measured so it can be managed. The data

led to a couple o personnel changes but more

importantly, it led to improved perormance rom

the balance o the sales team. The combined

impact on OTIF has been noticeable. We havent

been doing this too long but weve already seen

an improvement in our OTIF score rom 77% to

82%, comments the owner.

CULTURE & DISCIPLINE

OTIF has a huge cultural beneft, observes

a dealer in the Northeast. Its really ingrained

in our people, rom order entry to order aging,

the importance o getting it right the frst time.

Thats a huge organizational advantage. It gets

even better when the organization learns to

continually identiy the largest driver o OTIF

ailures and then creates the appropriate system

fx. Were making strides and looking at ailures

more rom the perspective o what in the process

is insufcient? rather than who messed up?

notes a dealer in the South. That attitude shit and

change in perspective is key to creating a culture

o continuous improvement. It keeps the ocus

on moving orward. It eliminates the tendency o

employees not to report problems because they

dont want to get anyone in trouble. It creates an

open and healthy dialogue about improving service

and getting it right the frst time.

OTIF MATTERS

Market conditions are unlikely to changesignifcantly in the next ew years. Margin

pressure is ferce and will increase. In this

hyper-competitive environment controlling costs

is crucial and price is paramount, but service still

matters. Much more than a delivery metric, OTIF

is a key perormance indicator that can help you

ocus on what matters most right now.

Theres so much people and organizations

can ocus on now that are benefcial or the

organization. But there are only a ew things that

matter most. Use OTIF to identiy the things that

get in the way o getting it right the frst time.Support your gut eel with data and prioritize your

resources accordingly.

Businesses must be proftable today. Were

heading into a challenging winter season and

perhaps our most challenging six months yet.

Costs need to be aligned and sales maximized.

OTIF helps you do both. Harness the power o

OTIF to drive your companys bottom line well

into the black.

WHERE TO START?

Starting with OTIF can seem overwhelming

but its not. Simply start by educatingyour whole team on what OTIF is (WHOLE

organization metric) and why its important (ithelp you get it right the frst time more oten).

Identiy your reason codes or use my template.

Then review your computer system andwhat data you can automate. Some systems

produce a backorder report that is airly clean

or OTIF purposes; others include keystrokeerrors and will require some cleanup to use

or OTIF.

Communicate the defnitions o on-time

and in-ull.

On-time = met the time commitment we

(the company) made.

In-ull = all items on the ticket are delivered

with no errors, backorders, or substitutions.

Present the tracking template and ailure

reason codes.

Vendor:shippedlate;damagedintransit;

shipped wrong product/color/quantity/quality.

Internal:sales;inventory;operations;delivery;

accounting; manuacturing.

Customer:orderedwrongproduct/color/

quantity/quality; last minute change; etc.

Other:weatherdelay,railstrike,etc.

Identiy how the data will be captured and

compiled. Determine who will be responsibleor maintaining the data and analyzing it.

Start tracking. Use the broad categories or

the frst month. Review the data and thenbreak out the category with the largest

number o ailures. Its a sae bet that the

most problematic area will be internal issues.Break this out into more detailed categories

and track or two to our weeks. Review that

data and start with the area thats responsibleor the largest number o ailures.

Investigate and identiy the root causes and

then address them and fx the problems,

permanently. Make it a system fx so that

the organization will have a predictableperormance regardless o which employees

are involved. I a particular problem keepscropping up, theres a system/process fx or it.

Once you have your solution in place, move

on to the next largest driver o OTIF ailures

and address that. OTIF provides data. Usethe data to confrm your gut eel and to drive

eorts to improve.

Step by step, youll systematically improveyour organizations ability to get it ALL right

the frst time.

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As product categories become over-

crowded with brands, builders ask retailers

or unknown products ound online,

and space and inventory dollars stay at a

premium, it becomes dicult or retailers

to choose what brands to keep on hand.

Partnering with the right suppliers becomes

critical to stocking the right products

and capturing the highest percentage o

potential sales.

When trying to understanding the value

o a good distributor, there is more than

meets the eye. Most distributors handle

basic unctions relatively well, but ew

grow beyond the basics to support their

customers by ully participating in the

entire building channel. This is where

distributor resources dedicated to demand

creation come into play by aiding retailers

in creating and managing demand. By

educating builders and contractors, driving

architect specication, certiying installers,

and working with code ocials, a premier

distributor can help retailers by ocusing

demand on a smaller scope o high-quality

products that sell through.

MANUFACTURERS VALUE

DEMAND CREATION

Listen to manuacturers speak at various

conerences and you will hear most o them

incorporating downstream marketing as part

o their strategy. This may include a trades-

acing orientation o their sales orce, builder

Sponsored by Parksite

DEMAND CREATION AND DOWNSTREAMMARKETINGHELPDRIVELBMDEALERSALES

certication programs, communications

strategies, and more. True industry

visionaries realize that all levels o the

distribution channel need to be partnered

or success. Manuacturers, distributors, and

retailers must be aligned in educating and

servicing the end-user to ensure that the

leading brands stocked by retailers turn. It is

unlikely that the channel can support such a

kaleidoscope o in-kind products long term

and be ecient.

HOW RETAILERS GAIN

DOWNSTREAM SUPPORT

It can be hard to dierentiate between

suppliers and manuacturers when, on

the surace, they seem to have so much

in common. One way to make sure that

youre getting the maximum return on

vendor choice is to request inormation

about a vendors marketing strategy,

ocus o resources, business strategy, and

willingness to partner in joint planning

and initiatives. Identiy whether a vendor

has services and programs or the trades

that can help build loyalty to the brands

you carry. Does the company spend all

its time ocused on selling you when they

could be working with you in supporting

your customers? For a retailer, working

with vendors to build a loyalty base o core

products can provide a better return on

inventory and marketing eorts.

PARKSITE AND DUPONT SET THE

STANDARD FOR DEMAND CREATION

Yes, here comes the plug, but its

inormation worth knowing i you are in the

business o selling weatherization products

such as housewrap, roong underlayment,

and fashing. Downstream demand creation

has been a part o the DuPont Tyvek brand

strategy since the rst Tyvek specialist

started with Parksite in 1986. There is a

reason the brand has endured besides

leading perormance.The more than 100 Tyvek specialists

currently in the eld go through a ve-

year certication process based on a

university-level curriculum to ensure the

inormation and training they provide

builders and architects is based on modern

building science rather than marketing. The

ocused resource o the specialist network

in supporting the trades is why Dupont

Weatherization Systems continues to be a

staple o quality building material suppliers.

The bottom line: Demand creation

drives sales.

About Parksite

Parksite is a 100% employee-owned sales, marketing, and distribution company servingmany segments o the building industry, with a ocus on both interior and exteriorproducts. We are proud to supply the best abricators and building material dealers

with category-leading products or residential, commercial, and remodeling markets.Parksite provides consultative services and support or builders, architects, designers,remodelers, general contractors, and deck builders. We continue to research emergingproducts in existing categories and are actively looking or products to t new categoriesas the building industry evolves.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ruth Kellick-Grubbs

Ruth Kellick-Grubbs is

president o Kellick &Associates, an LBM industry

consulting and advisory

frm in Tyron, N.C. She

works with LBM dealers,

distributors and manuacturers across the US

and internationally. For more inormation on

OTIF and improving proftability contact Ruth

at Ruth@KellickandAssociates.com.

Parksite1563 Hubbard AvenueBatavia, IL 60510

http://www.parksite.com

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As Parksite takes this moment to celebrate our 40th Anniversary we realize our success is

the result of our associates dedication, our customers patronage, our suppliers support,

and the industrys resilience. We are humbled by the richness of our history and emboldened by

the potential of our future. Parksite is again positioned for growth and we are investing in people,

products, and ventures to create opportunity for our customers and vendors. Our commitments

are listed below as a reminder to ensure our actions stay consistent with our intentions. Thank

you for your continued support and partnership.

As a Company, Parksite will

Focus on Customer Needs in all facets of our business

Create Opportunities for customers, suppliers and

associates

Invest in Relationships that create mutually beneficialoutcomes in support of our mission

Anticipate Change and focus on the positive outcomes

that can result from embracing it.

Sincerely,

George Pattee

Chairman and CEO

ThankYou

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(866) 751-4779