It's Not About Me

In 1990, American Electric launched its Signature Service program, the first and only major electrical manufacturer to guarantee service levels with automatic rebates for missed service levels to its distributor customers. This was not simply a marketing program, but a drastic change in how this company would serve its customers forever more. Formerly, American Electric had shipped products to its customers from as many as 80 different plants and warehouses, but in 1990, they established a master distribution center concept within the electrical industry serving its U.S. customers from two major distribution centers. Eventually, they would consolidate to a single, one

million square foot distribution center in Byhalia, MS. In 1992, they began a weekly door-to-door Direct Delivery service to their major distributor customers…an exclusive benefit yet to be matched to this day by their competition. This Direct Delivery service provided superior handling of material, consistent and predictable on time delivery, and a lower cost to the customer. What began as a program to deliver 500 of their most popular items, soon grew to 1,000 and then 1,500 and then even

more items available for two-day shipment. If American Electric failed to ship the Signature Service items within two workdays, they would offer an immediate rebate on the customer’s invoice of 5 %, 10% or 15% depending upon how many product lines the customer was signed up for. While Fed Ex might have offered their customer’s a refund if they missed their promised delivery (provided the customer called them and asked for it), American Electric automatically deducted the Signature Service penalty on the customer’s original invoice! More importantly, every employee at American Electric was made aware of any weekly Signature Service Misses to the customer … o Plants – buyers, operations, shippers, factory workers o Warehouse – pickers, packers, shippers o Headquarters – marketing, sales, purchasing, operations and even the lobby receptionist! Traditional operating protocols in many companies often work on the principle “when it is out of my hands … it is no longer my responsibility”. This was NOT the case with Signature Service . Even though the product was shipping from the Master Warehouse, the PLANT was responsible for making sure the product was not just shipped from their plant site, but that it had time to ARRIVE at the warehouse and be available for Picking, Packing and Shipping in time to meet the customer’s schedule or THEY were assessed with the MISS! This change in philosophy required everyone in the supply chain to take ownership for making sure the product could/would ship on-time! On more than one occasion, logistics chartered a plane to make sure material arrived at the customer’s site on-time! In 1992, Thomas & Betts acquired American Electric ; Thomas & Betts , founded in 1898, brought an exemplary line of electrical products to this marriage, but it was American Electric’s central

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