A STUDY OF MCMUNN AND YATES’ DISTRIBUTION CENTRE’S

HUMAN RESOURCES POLICIES AND PRACTICES

Paolo Balinghasay

University of Winnipeg PACE Program

Background

Mc Munn and Yates, a medium-sized enterprise, is a building supplies company that was established by two families in 1971. Their first branch was in Dauphin, Manitoba. The company slowly grew and put up a few more branches in central Canada. Since 2008, Mc Munn and Yates (M&Y) started an aggressive expansion by buying out other companies such as Miracle Lumber Mart in Beausejour, Webster’s Building Centres, and McDiarmid Lumber, to name a few.

These acquisitions made such rapid growth in their operations and logistics that M&Y struggled to cope in meeting product demand. As of 2016, M&Y Enterprise is slowly establishing their name in central Canada. They currently have 24 branches, mostly in and around the Winnipeg area, but some go as far as Thompson and FlinFlon. They have achieved this by focusing in improving customer satisfaction to acquire loyal patrons, but significantly lack development in such crucial responsibilities such as Human Resources Management. Having expanded from less than 10 stores to 24 within four years, M&Y only have one Distribution Centre (DC) to cater to all the branches for supplies and customer orders.

The DC, which was constructed in 2008, consists of two main operations of M&Y: The Shipping and Receiving Department, and the Corporate Department. The Shipping and Receiving Department operate at the warehouse and the yard area of DC, where majority of the products ordered by buyers and customers are being received, inventoried, and later shipped to all M&Y stores. The offices in the Corporate Department house the management body: Operations Manager, Health and Safety Officer, Product Manager, Warehouse Manager, and Human Resource