Caselet $/$ Scenario CarParts.com preps for larger, more efficient Las Vegas warehouse The building, slated to open in Q$2$ of $2024,$ will carry between $80\%$ to $90\%$ of the e$-$ commerce companys assortment. $($Published November $9,2023)$ The CarParts.com logo is displayed at its Grand Prairie, Texas, distribution centre. CarParts.com is moving its Nevada warehouse operations to a larger location that will nearly double its footprint in the Las Vegas metro area, according to a company executive. Courtesy of CarParts.com CarParts.com is moving its Nevada warehouse operations to a larger location, nearly doubling its footprint in the Las Vegas metro area, COO Michael Huffaker said on a Q$3$ earnings call last week. This building will serve as our West Coast flagship and will carry between $80\%$ and $90\%$ of our assortment, Huffaker said. He added that the facility will include state$-$of$-$the$-$art picking technology and be able to handle both conveyable and non$-$conveyable items efficiently $($conveyable items have dimensions, shapes and weights that are within the range defined for a certainautomated material handling system$).$ The facility is slated to begin operations in Q$2$ of $2024.$ The e$-$commerce automotive parts and accessories provider announced the opening ofits original $125,000-$square$-$foot Las Vegas distribution centre in $2019.$ The new Nevada warehouse is one of several ways executives said CarParts.com is pushing to increase supply chain efficiency while reducing costs. The company recently closed its return centre in Peru and has decentralised returns across the network, said Huffaker, a former Amazon executive. CarParts.com also installed its networks first Cubiscan machine at the new facility, which will provide more accurate dimension measurements on products. Combining this with a recently completed audit to optimise our box assortment, we will reduce the amount of air shipping in each package, Huffaker said. These implementations in the long term will further give us greater control of our last$-$mile costs. Trimming last$-$mile expenses will be important in CarParts.coms quest to improve its financial performance. The companys gross profit fell $2\%$ year$-$on$-$Despite the higher costs, delivery performance has been strong for the e$-$ commerce company. CarParts.com customers are receiving parts faster than at any point in its history after it focused on improving click$-$to$-$delivery speeds, CEO David Meniane said on the call. Meniane did not specify what CarParts.coms current delivery speeds are, but it has been expanding its distribution centre network in pursuit of reaching up to $90\%$ of its customers within one day. This includes the launch of a distribution centre in Jacksonville, Florida, last year. Question $1$:Supply chain managers are constantly trying to leverage customer service vs cost trade$-$offs in their quest to improve bottom$-$line performance. With reference to the caselet, critically explore why the company introduced $\%$ of one$-$day deliveries as one of its KPIs. $1$ mark per fact or argument why $\%$ one$-$day deliveries has been selected as a KPI by CarParts.com $($maximum $5$ marks$).$ Question $2$:With reference to the specific caselet information, critically review the various points that relate to how CarParts.com has been navigating this customer service vs cost trade$-$off and the challenges and successes experienced. Assess how and why the new distribution centre in Las Vegas, with the enhancements mentioned, should impact this trade$-$off in servicing its US West Coast customer base vs the following generic KPIs of customer service and cost: $-\%$ of one$-$day deliveries achieved $-$ Number of items on back$-$orders $-$ Percentage product availability$-$ Order cycle time $-$ Total average delivery cost per shipment$\mathrm{.}5$ marks for a short, general overview of CarParts.coms actions to improve its customer service$-$cost balance and what its main areas of success and challenges have been$\mathrm{.}3$ marks for reviewing each listed KPI, and motivating why and how the expanded Las Vegas facility should impact each KPI, also referencing reported successes $(3$ x $5=15$ marks$).$ Answer for $20$ points