The Distribution Dilemma

As the project manager, I was hired to efficiently distribute thousands of personalized and sized jackets at several employee picnics, across cities and locations within the company’s northern region.  

Another Project Manager, an Intel researcher and I stood on the lawn to visualize how people would flow from the work place or parking lots, to the employee picnic, , to the distribution area and finally back to work. Distribution had to be under a tent–it was a hot July–and, what if it rained?

We devised our plan right there on the lawn of one location: using 16-20 volunteers, we would distribute jackets in alpha-order from shelves; just like your library. I worked with the jacket company to alphabetize the jackets based on location, neatly wrap and label each with the name of its new owner. Large signage made it easy to direct employees to the jacket tent, volunteers assigned to the rows, tables and jacket shelves (boxes) set for easy identification of owner to jacket.  Jacket boxes wrapped in blue plastic table cloths (from a roll) reinforced a new brand, made it neat, organized and attractive all day long.

Sure, that distribution was fairly simple. Subsequent distribution was made complicated by the sheer number of employees (8,000), jacket styles, sizes, employee locations and order dates.  Due to order volume, not all of the jackets were complete by employee picnics.  Volunteers received lists of all orders to confirm distribution.  To minimize returns, key messages for the volunteers, and pre-order and post-order emails were clearly defined along with a manner by which to troubleshoot wrong sizes or styles. Each employee received a neat package, a gift jacket through the thoughtful care of their employer, made possible in part by Reach Partners.

Was it the only solution to the jacket distribute dilemma? Probably not, but it worked well and we all looked good doing it.


Anita, Reach Partners

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