Menard's Future

As some of you may know, I used to work at Menard's Inc. Although I have been out of the company for almost eight months, I continue to speak with friends who still work there and occasionally read updates about the company. I am predicting that once John Menard leaves the company due to retirement or other factors, the company will be sold to Home Depot or more likely Lowe's, or will fail and go out of business. I am making the prediction based on the fact that John Menard fired the person he was training to take over the company, Charlie Menard. In addition, after working there for over four years, I am well aware that the company mostly runs on the personality of John Menard. His ego and drive are what make the company function the way it does.

With that prediction made, here is a list of things that I would fix immediately if I took over Menard's. First, I would upgrade the software for the POS system. The current system is older than I am and needs to be badly upgraded. The machines that run the system are relatively new in some stores and could easily run newer software. The information that connects stores together needs to fit together so that I can easily work with other stores on sales. I should not have to fax over paperwork to ensure that a store receives credit. Second, a major overhaul of the receiving procedure needs to be done. This is currently done manually by a single person in each store. This is unacceptable and needs to change. Also, the supply chain to different stores is often whatever can fit on the truck, regardless of if the store needs it or not. That also needs to change because it clutters stores and makes inventory counts harder. Last, Menard's would need to get rid of those managers that were used to doing things the "Menard's" way. This means that hiring and recruiting needs to take a bigger priority and training needs to improve. Managers that did not follow this would be gone.

Not that I would run Menard's, but this was a hypothetical exercise into what I think would need to be done if I took over the company.