Question: FROM: Sam B. TO: Elephant Logistics & SC Consultants RE: Feasibility Study of Specialty European Beverage Line As you know, my European vacation offered me the opportunity to experience many different beverages throughout all of Europe including wines, beers, and spirits; i.e., fine wines from France and Spain, beers from Germany and UK, and spirits such as Aquavit and Brennivin from Scandinavia - and more!! I have decided to make new line of beverages: Specialty European Beverages. My goal is get this new line started and begin to promote and market it heavily. I look to make this Specialty line a big part of our offerings - about one-third of our sales after we grow it for several years. I want you to do some research and analysis into the logistics of this international procurement challenge. I am looking for how feasible this is and the what could be the best way to procure these products. Here are some areas to check into: · Becoming an Importer and purchasing these products from a European export company. o This could possibly be the least costly way to procure the products, but then we need to take care of the shipping o Shipping - ocean transport and ship from where to where? § Use an East Coast port or use the Port of Milwaukee - can we have this product shipped all the way to Milwaukee across the Great Lakes? § How to transport from East coast to Chicago? o What are the requirements to become an importer of alcoholic beverages? o How do we work with an exporter? § What kind of quantities are required to purchase from an exporter? · Find an importer and work with them to get what we want o Can we identify several importers of European beverages? o This probably increases the costs of the beverages o Quantities required to purchase? o Shipping requirements? · Is there a third-party or 3PL for importing - someone who does the work for us specifically and imports what we want from the exporter? o What are the concerns of using this type of arrangement? · Comparison of costs, timing of shipments and Inventory o How does each option affect the costs of the products? o for the different options, what is the delivery time? o How do the different options affect Inventory needs, e.g. long lead times require more inventory, etc. I am not looking for really detailed analysis, but a more general report identifying these issues and challenges and making a high-level comparison. And does this project sound feasible? Can we do it? I look forward to your report. Let me know if you have any questions. By the way, I did some preliminary research and here are links to a few websites that might be helpful: https://www.ttb.gov/itd/importing_alcohol.shtml https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/211/~/requirements-for-importing-alcohol-for-resale http://www.wineandspirit.com http://city.milwaukee.gov/port#.Wbvr162ZO_L http://www.great-lakes.net/teach/business/ship/ship_4.html http://city.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/User/portbn/PDF/Annual-Reports/2016PortofMilwAnnualReportforWEB.pdf https://www.flexport.com/about Sam Barrume has just returned from a European vacation where he enjoyed the various sights, food and drink. Based on his experience he wants to make new line of beverages, Specialty European Beverages, including wine, beer, and spirits from all the European countries. Right now, MBBD has a very small selection of beverages from Europe which he gets from his regular distributor. Sam is interested in making this a major part of his line-up at MBBD - he is thinking about one-third of his overall sales as he grows this specialty line over the next several years. Sam has written a memo/email asking Elephant to make a preliminary analysis of the issues and challenges of procuring these products from Europe and writing a report on this international procurement effort. Read the memo, do the research and analysis report to Sam. Your Deliverable: a report that provides 1. Analysis of the three basic options that S. Barrume has suggested: MBBD imports directly, MBBD finds an importer and works with them, or MBBD contracts with a 3PL company a. Provides high-level comparison with appropriate details along with discussion answering the questions for each of these three options b. High level comparison of costs, timing of shipments and inventory as specified 2. A recommendation regarding the overall feasibility of MBBD taking on the project. a. Highlight key issues and risks b. Should MBBD proceed with a detailed decision analysis? Explain your reasoning.