A 3-Pronged Strategy for the Right Parts in the Right Place

As employees of The Macomb Group, we all know how important it is to rely on one another in our day-to-day business. This means relying on not only our coworkers in our own facility, but also those in other branches or regions.

With this kind of collaboration in mind, The Macomb Group designed the Iron Triangle strategy, which allows regional locations to share purchasing and inventory information. This close communication helps all of our branches to ensure they are balancing the number of parts on hand with the number of parts customers in their area need right away.

A unique geographic footprint

Meeting our customers’ needs and expectations is always a top priority for our business.

The Iron Triangle is a proactive strategy to ensure the support of neighboring branches or our Sterling Heights headquarters when a branch needs to provide the right parts to a customer in a timely fashion.

Across our locations, five Iron Triangles are set up to support one another:

• Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Lansing
• Midland and Flint
• Livonia, Toledo, and Lima
• Middletown, Cincinnati, Carrolton, and Clarksville
• Akron, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh

At each branch is a Point Contact who communicates branch-specific information, such as upcoming or awarded jobs, business climate, or potential stockouts. They work with other Point Contacts within their triangle to manage, facilitate, and rebalance inventory. Territory Contacts work with each branch’s Point Contact to facilitate the rebalancing of inventory. Territory Contacts have the overall responsibility of replenishing stock within their triangle.

The movers and pushers

At Sterling Heights, a team of six works within the Iron Triangle system to streamline The Macomb Group’s procurement process.

Brandon Perilli oversees the Iron Triangle system, and handles importing as well as corporate buys and programs. Don Watterson is currently handling our northernmost region, which includes Flint and Midland, as well as covering the four southernmost branches, starting in Middletown and going as far south as Clarksville. In the Western Michigan triangle is Mary Anne Graham, and Cheryl Pozzuli handles the eastern region of Akron, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. Terry McGivern works with the central region from Liviona to Lima, and Kevin Littleson works as a jack of all trades — filling in the gaps as well as assisting throughout the company when necessary.

Our Iron Triangle not only allows us to collaborate with our neighboring branches, but also serves as a valuable tool for extraordinary customer service. Just as our customers rely on us to provide them essential parts quickly, each of our branches can rely on one another as we continue to strive towards being an even better business.