Question one
McLane happens to be one of the largest and successful supply chain providers in the United States. Their success is as a result of a good reputation for dependability, extensive experience, excellent establishment, and consistency (McLean, 2009). The partnership between WaWa and McLane is what led to the formation of the partnership of McLane at New Jersey Distribution Center (NJDC). The decision to form the partnership was not made in a rush. Both parties took their time and even relied on advice from professionals from their respective firms. In addition, the relied on the distribution logistics consultants that they had hired to assist in the selection of a partner. Both parties were willing to invest the required times o as to come up with reasonable answers. Partnerships established under such fundamentals are more probable to work together for a considerable amount of time. Such an approach to building an organization exhibits very high levels of experience between the two parties. From that approach, it is evident that the decision to be made was to be a long-term contract between the two.
Another factor that can contribute to the longevity of this partnership is the fact that the relationship that exists between McLean and NJDC is not a buyer/ seller type of partnership (Wilson, 2012). Instead, these two factions have almost similar interests. The NJDC is owned by McLean, who runs and manages it on behalf of Wawa. McLean is also responsible for managing the logistics of the distribution to more that 570 Wawa stores. This agreement is ideal for both parties since Wawa’s main problem was to find a good distributor/ supplier who can constantly and timely deliver to the + 570 outlets. McLean on the other side managed to expand the supply chain. Such a partnership is bound to be durable.
Question Two
The primary challenge faced by Wawa was distribution (McLean, 2009). Currently, the company has managed to get a facility that can store its perishable products and at the same time, Wawa has managed to tackle the problem of distribution accordingly. All this was achieved by the partnering of Wawa with McLean. It would, therefore, be prudent if Wawa maintains the right relationship that it is currently experiencing with its partner. The continued cooperation between these two enterprises is the first option that Wawa should consider.
Since the company already has a constant distribution chain and is well established in that area, Wawa should think of expanding to other states. This will mean that the company will either have to expand its distribution channel together with NJDC, or look for other distributors in the country. By creating a good reputation with other local distributors in other states in the country, Wawa will manage to expand to other states with a lot of ease.
Since the company has already been automated, it can now handle distribution in bulk and a more organized manner. For the company to grow further, it would be advisable if Wawa could decide to go global. The transition process will not be very hard regarding distribution since the company already has two reliable distributors i.e. New Jersey Distribution Center and Penske. However, Wawa should note that despite all these options, it should not stop marketing its own brand since it’s the best option for guaranteed growth (Wilson, 2012).
References
McLane. (2009, April). Business Case: Third-Party Supply Chain Solutions: A McLane White Paper. Retrieved from http://www.mclaneco.com/www/AnonDocs/Solutions/ThirdParty/WAWA_whitepaper.pd f Mauboussin.
Wilson, K (2012). Wawa’s Supply Chain Management and Growth: An analysis of how Wawa can grow while simplifying its business and its customers’ lives. Retrieved from https://krhea17.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/wawa_supply_chain_management_case_study_k_wilson.pdf
