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Engagement Summary

Benefit: Vertical integration and flexible material planning system implementation.

Industry: Online Consumer Creative Services

Engagement Detail

Shutterfly is an Internet-based company taking on the industry’s Goliaths - Walmart, Kodak, HP, and Walgreens - by providing a portfolio of on-demand products from digital camera images.  It must reliably deliver innovative, top-quality products to grow its loyal customer base.  The biggest challenge is to provide this premium service during the chaos of the “make or break” 4th quarter every year—50% of annual revenue is produced by seasonal manufacturing resources 8 times the non-seasonal size—so that Grandma always receives her flawless, one-of-a-kind Christmas gift made with treasured pictures!  Shutterfly is now the acknowledged leader in its industry, providing personal memories publishing services for photographs, calendars, albums, books, greeting cards, and merchandise.  

Shutterfly’s success can be measured in part by:

  • Successful IPO and stock outperforming NASDAQ index

  • Sales growth of approximately 50% per year

  • 67% increase in stock price while competitors’ stock changed  +27% to -14%

Specialized manufacturing capabilities and vertical integration supplies the needed agility and control to succeed—ensuring quality, flexibility, product availability, and reduced costs.  

  • TRG contributed to Shutterfly’s success by:

  • Establishing flexible material planning system to support growth

  • Establishing responsive supply chain business processes meeting quality, cost, and availability requirements

  • Negotiating contracts and managing supply chain throughout critical Q4

"Shutterfly was very pleased with the results driven by the work of TRG; they helped us deliver an incredibly successful Q4, marked by on-time order fulfillment and most importantly, happy customers."

 

Jeannine Smith, Senior Vice President of Operations 

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