Mack's is a family owned furniture company. James Mack opened his first location in 1976 and over the past 40 years has expanded to 3 furniture showrooms with a central distribution center for storage and order fulfillment.
You have worked for the Mack's for the past 4 years. Following your graduation from UTK, you started as a salesman in one of the showrooms and moved up to Assistant Sales Manager in less than 2 years. Mr. Mack was so impressed with your work ethic and fresh ideas that he recently promoted you to Area Distribution Manager at the warehouse. While you have been with the company for a while, this is your first time working in the warehouse.
You've been in the new position for about a month and have made a few observations. First, the culture in the warehouse is very different than the showroom. Employees are much more relaxed and informal. For the most part everyone has been accepting of you and your role as manager. One employee, Chris Banks, has worked in the warehouse for the past 7 years and is well respected in the eyes of the other employees. He has been friendly, but you can tell he is a little bitter that you were given the job.
Aside from the culture, you have identified a few processes that you believe could be streamlined for better efficiency and faster turnover on customer deliveries. Some of the changes are minor but, when combined, will greatly impact the way things are done at the distribution center. Mr. Mack had a feeling that some things could be done differently; that's why he hired you. You are confident in his support, but are wondering when or if you should even change anything.
Would you make any changes to the processes at the distribution center? If so, how would you go about making the changes?