Focusing on what they do best

"Founded in 1982, Sunco is a family-owned company that has been in business for over 25 years. The company was founded on the principle of “Great Cabinets, Quality People.”

The quality of their product is their main selling feature. Sunco Cabinets starts with a selection of only the finest woods and materials and assembles the finished product using traditional craftsman techniques. The result is a high quality cabinet at an affordable price that exceeds customer expectations. Their product line includes highly crafted all-wood kitchen cabinetry, bathroom vanities, medicine cabinets, cultured marble tops, and related bath accessories.

Sunco also believes that a successful business is built upon a commitment to service and customer satisfaction. Sunco’s corporate goal has been to meet all their customers’ expectations with integrity and respect. It has been the successful execution of both principles, through the quality of their products, employees, and their dealers, that has made Sunco the successful company it is today.

Barrett Distribution, with its history of customized warehousing and logistics solutions, shares this value of meeting customer expectations with integrity and respect. Barrett was a natural fit to partner with Sunco to provide distribution services for their growing organization.

“Traditionally, we have handled all our operations in house, but as our company has grown the distribution aspect of our operations started to impact our other departments. By partnering with Barrett Distribution, we were able to develop a flexible standalone distribution operation that allows Sunco to focus on manufacturing while maintaining a high level of service to our customers.” says David Sun of Sunco Cabinets.

Barrett is able to provide technology-based, chain-wide logistics and distribution solutions to Sunco with “best of breed” warehouse management and information systems. The Blueprint™ process enables Barrett to expand our relationships with our clients, and allows us to leverage our investment in technology to drive down the client’s total cost of distribution and logistics. Our Blueprint™ process was developed from our deep experience in logistics and distribution design, implementation, operations, and systems deployment. Coupled with an infectious commitment to continuous improvement and customer satisfaction, Barrett takes pride in having customers like Sunco view us as a critical key to their own success."

—Kevin Moran, Franklin

Barrett Bugle : February 2010

Check out the latest Barrett Bugle for topics like:

- Employee of the Year
- Customer Spotlight: Sunco
- Family Business Successes
- Customer-driven reorganization

THE BARRETT BUGLE is published quarterly
by Barrett Distribution Centers.
Editor Linda Skrzat

Barrett Distribution Centers Joins Distribution Centers of America (DCA)

Boston Based Provider Strengthens Northeast Service Region

Franklin, MA - January 18, 2010: Barrett Distribution Centers (BDC), a multi-regional provider of supply chain services, has assumed New England regional representation and increases
Northeast presence for the national marketing cooperative, Distribution Centers of America
(DCA). Membership in DCA, now celebrating 25 years of national advantage through regional
excellence, is a highly coveted privilege, by invitation only and reflects the voted approval of all
member companies.

Founded in 1941, BDC has grown from a one customer operation to 8 locations servicing
customers in the retail, CPG, consumer electronics, footwear & apparel, food, medical, and
industrial manufacturing industries. Three generations of Barrett management have instilled a
zeal for delivering customer satisfaction and continuous improvement.

All of our growth has been customer driven,” says BDC’s Tim Barrett, COO. “We look forward to working with TeamDCA to fulfill our customers supply chain requirements and expand upon
the relevance and value we bring to all stakeholders. Through BDC's Blueprint process, which
is a proprietary approach to designing, building, implementing and executing solutions, BDC is
able to improve performance and enhance brand loyalty with end customers.


About Barrett Distribution Centers:
Barrett Distribution Centers, headquartered in Boston, MA, is a premier provider of third-party logistics services. For nearly 70 years, the company has been providing technology-based solutions to help clients achieve tactical and strategic goals. Barrett’s experience spans multiple industries and includes warehousing, fulfillment, transportation and value-added services. Contact Tim Barrett, COO, 508-553-8800 or Mike O’Donnell SVP Customer Solutions, 774-210- 0207. For more information visit us at www.barrettdistribution.com.

About TeamDCA:
For 25 years, Distribution Centers of America (DCA) has been recognized for service excellence throughout its national network of member companies, together comprising 23 million square feet of warehouse space. Individually owned and operated, each member of TeamDCA is a leader in its regional market, providing value-added warehousing and third party logistics services responsive to the needs of global companies and committed to customer success in that
region. For more information, or to request a quote for service visit www.teamdca.com.

10 Things I Know About Family Businesses

By Arthur Barrett

Special to the Worcester Business Journal

12/21/09

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Arthur Barrett is president of Barrett Distribution Centers Inc., a third party logistics service provider based in Franklin. He can be reached at abarrett@barrettdistribution.com.

10. Outside Influence
An “apprentice” (son or daughter, or sibling) should start a career outside of the family business, in order to build confidence and bring skills, ideas, and decision-making experiences.

9. A Great Divide
Separate family issues from business issues. You would not bring your family issue to work if you were not a relative of the founder/owner.

8. Market Shares
Establish a fair compensation package that is market-driven. Overpaying a family member may cause animosity among peers and even superiors in the organization; underpaying can cause resentment.

7. All About Value
Family values are knitted throughout the organization. At most family businesses, company values are really a reflection of family values.

6. Generous Giving
It is important to know that most family businesses tend to have generous benefits packages. So don’t cut corners when it comes to the benefits that you offer.

5. The Loyalty Advantage
Generous benefits packages create loyalty among employees and lower turnover. That helps us outperform the competition.

4. Company Trust
There has to be trust among the family members for the business to succeed. Customers sense this high level of trust, and it helps us when we are competing for their business.

3. What’s In A Name
Family businesses offer customers and clients the opportunity to interact with the executives of the company. It’s a great selling point and helps to differentiate the family business from other competitors.

2. The Longevity Factor
Customers like doing business with a multi-generation family business, with the expectation that the family members will continue to service their needs in the long term.

1. The Family Dynamic
Of course there are plenty of disadvantages that family dynamics can present, so it’s best to be prepared for how family changes can impact your business.

To view entire article please click here.

If you are interested in Los Angeles fulfillment or other 3rd party logistics services, please check out Barrett's website.

Emphasizing Stability

When you’re a customer, there’s no bigger credibility-builder than having the ear of the person whose last name is on the building.

So say brothers Tim and Arthur Barrett, whose moniker is, in fact, on eight buildings owned and operated by their third-generation, family-run distribution chain, Barrett Distribution Centers.

Here’s why: “Family run” immediately stresses stability, commitment and firmly-footed roots, the brothers say. Simply put, customers understand immediately that the company is in it for the long term, noted Tim Barrett, chief operating officer.

“They see that this is a business that’s not going anywhere,” he said.

And, for 68 years, it hasn’t — in fact, the company, with eight locations and roughly 150 employees, has experienced rapid and immense growth.

click here for full article

provided by: Worcester Journal Online

Outsourcing and respect

The idea of outsourcing often comes about when the CEO, controller, or another member of senior management reads an article—or has been speaking with a 3PL—about saving a minimum of 10 percent or more of their logistics costs by turning to a third party. However, I've found that these “savings opportunities” are often purely theoretical and are only supported by management due to their lack of logistics knowledge or their lack of confidence in the ability of its logistics team to efficiently manage its processes.


Of course, there are other times when the outsourcing conversation is sparked by the urgent need to reduce headcount.

The transportation teams that feel especially threatened are those that lack the experience, leadership, talent, knowledge, process excellence, and contingency strategies to guide their companies through today's global market. They often fail to anticipate and prepare themselves for tomorrow's challenges. And it often takes just one unpleasant and costly surprise to jumpstart the outsourcing movement in teams like these.

When I hear transportation leaders tell me that their companies keep reminding them that they're just another cost center, I tell them that it's their fault that management doesn't see them as a value-add to the organization. This tends to lead into the question: How do I get some respect?

The answer is simple. It's all about education and managing expectations—neither of which start in the middle of a crisis. Earning respect starts with your knowledge and command of the marketplace and your transportation governance, and it ends with programs that you have created to educate senior management and other organizations on a regular basis. As a quick reminder, I define transportation governance as “the direction and control associated with creation, administration, oversight, and enforcement of your company and supply chain's policies, regulations, and procedures related to the legal, safe, efficient, and service-effective movement of freight it controls either directly or indirectly.”

Transportation governance has both direct and indirect aspects. Direct governance includes: your carrier criteria and operating protocol/guidelines; selection and management of your carrier base; carrier due diligence evaluations, contract models and supporting documents; process with defined/flows/inputs-outputs; metrics and measures and dashboards; carrier performance reviews and process improvements; a carrier council to streamline processes and improve carrier and company productivity; greenfield projects and process improvements; and, of course, audits and benchmarking. Indirect governance, on the other hand, includes your command of the transportation industry including regulatory and political issues as well as a comparison of your approach to industry challenges versus that of your peers.

Read the rest of the logisticsmgmt.com article here.

New Study Highlights Role of Third-Party Logistics Providers in Helping Shippers Adapt to Economic Challenges

The fourteenth Annual Third Party Logistics (3PL) Study examining the current global market for logistics outsourcing was recently released. The study surveyed shippers and logistics service providers in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Key findings included:

* The economic downturn has created significant challenges for both shippers and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) – 82% of shippers are employing cost-cutting tactics and 60% are rethinking their supply chains and relationships with 3PLs
* 88% of shippers feel that IT-based logistics services are important, but only 42% are satisfied with the capabilities of their provider – as a result of this IT capability gap, shipper respondents reported a lack of the key performance indicators, alerts and visibility required for an adaptive supply chain and 3PLs reported similar difficulties in getting the data and commitment they need from shippers
* There are significant differences between how 3PLs evaluate their role in the supply chain and how they are viewed by shippers – 59% of shippers feel their use of 3PLs has a positive effect on customer service compared to 88% of 3PL respondents
* Shipper respondents devote an average of between 47% (in North America) and 66% (in Europe) of their total logistics expenditures to outsourcing and this is expected to increase in the next five years.

“Shipper-3PL relationships are being impacted significantly by the prevailing uncertainty and economic volatility in global markets,” said Dr. C. John Langley Jr., Professor of Supply Chain Management, Georgia Institute of Technology. “It is very important for 3PLs to mitigate or reduce any financial risk or service level impact that this may cause.”

Economic uncertainty and the use of 3PLs
Economic volatility has challenged shippers and 3PLs alike to contend with factors such as unpredictable demand, instability in fuel costs and currency valuation, and excess inventory. In response, not only are shippers attempting to cut costs, 77% are also seeking to improve forecasting and inventory management.

Cost reduction and improved reliability in services are the main factors likely to increase shipper respondents’ use of 3PLs. This includes converting fixed to variable costs (59%), expanding to new markets or offering new products (56%), and restructuring the supply chain network to improve financial performance (48%).

Read the rest of the mhia.org article here.