Carson Container Company

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CASE STUDY 1 - Carson Container Company Carson Container Company was a large, regional plastic injection molding, container manufacturer, supplying single-serving containers to small food and beverage producers. Carson had 30 plants, located primarily in the Eastern part of the United States. Its procurement procedures were not coordinated. Carson’s corporate headquarters had even encouraged plant managers to act as separate entities. In addition, each plant bought many items from local suppliers. Carson’s decentralized approach to procurement was indicative of its overall strategy toward dealing with its constituencies, including employees, customers, shareholders and communities. The non-carbonated beverage market (specialty juices and waters) took off in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and thus, demand for Carson’s bottles heated up. As it became clear that this trend would continue through the coming years, Carson faced increasing competitive pressures to drive prices down and company management recognized that dealing with such a fragmented supplier base was hindering “efficiency” at the company. Michael Bundy, the company’s president, hired an experienced materials manager, Rick Haskell, as Vice President of Corporate Procurement, a new position in the company. Bundy gave Haskell lots of flexibility in organizing his work and placed Stacey Gunn as Haskell’s executive assistant. Gunn had worked for 15 years at Carson in several different positions and thus knew many plant employees. Haskell’s appointment was announced in the employee newsletter published at headquarters and in a memo to plant managers. Haskell wanted to centralize the company’s procurement procedures and reduce the number of suppliers overall. To begin the process, he asked eachof the executives who handled materials management in the various plants to clear with headquarters all contracts over

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