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Jack Samson, vice president fulfillment, returns, manufacturing, and
logistics at L.L.Bean, doesn’t just work
for the iconic clothing and outdoor
equipment retailer, he lives it. The
Maine native enjoys camping, fly fishing, and other outdoor activities, and
is a volunteer firefighter and licensed
emergency medical technician (EMT).
He’s received the “Bean’s Best” award
from his co-workers four times in his 30-year career
with the company—perhaps because he believes in
following his father’s advice to “treat people the way
you would want to be treated, and then treat them a
little better.”
While he respects tradition, Samson devotes most
of his time these days to helping L.L.Bean prepare
for the future. Currently, he’s a project lead for a
team that’s focused on strengthening the 105-year-
old company’s omnichannel retailing strategy and
practices. Previously, L.L.Bean had managed inven-
tory and fulfillment for its various sales channels
separately; the new approach creates a single pool of
inventory for its retail store, e-commerce, mobile,
and mail-order catalog businesses. The ongoing ini-
tiative also includes a redesigned distribution center
that serves all channels as well as replacements or
upgrades for Bean’s warehouse management, ware-
house control, inventory management, labor sched-
uling, and financial management software.
Q How has the omnichannel initiative affected L.L.Bean’s logistics and supply chain strategies
and operations? Has it affected your own work?
A This has been a long process, almost three years, and it isn’t quite finished—we’re in the process
of installing the new WMS (warehouse management system), for example. We continue to make
improvements, but the baseline for the entire project
is a focus on how we can better serve the customer.
Being an omnichannel retailer will allow us to do
that from the standpoint of service, inventory, and
delivery.
Previously, we had one DC for retail and one for
direct-to-consumer sales. Now, we’ve moved all of
the processing work into one location. We’re still
using both warehouse spaces, but not the same
way we did before. A big benefit is that the com-
bined warehouse provides visibility into all of our
inventory. When we kept inventory separate, a sales
associate for the catalog business, for example, didn’t
have visibility into retail stock. Now, by being able to
look at one combined pool, anyone can see wheth-
er any inventory is available for any
customer. This improves both ser-
vice and product availability. Another
major advantage is that we’re able to
do things like combine shipments,
combine physical space, and manage
inventory in a much more efficient
way.
Change can be very stressful, but
it’s provided great opportunities for
the company and for me personally to learn how
to make our business better. For me personally, the
biggest benefit has been that we’ve updated our old
processes and 20-year-old technology. All this frees
up time for me to develop and work with our people.
Q Your nomination mentioned that you have “a proven ability to form highly engaged teams.”
How do you choose the right people for those teams?
A There are three key things for me. Because this initiative revolves around a focus on customer
service, it’s important to select team members who
really understand how what we do impacts the customer. They also need skills that match well to the
task. The third thing is passion. That makes someone
stand out. If people have the skills and understanding but not a passion for the mission, they’re not
necessarily going to be my first choice.
It takes a lot of time to build a strong team the
right way. I have found that if I take the necessary
amount of time up front to be sure I have the right
people, I usually don’t have to make many changes
to the team.
Q You’re a firefighter and an EMT, and you also hold other volunteer leadership positions. Have
those experiences shaped your approach to your
work at L.L.Bean?
A Being an EMT means you’re dealing with life- or-death situations. You have to make a lot of
very quick decisions, and they have to be accurate
decisions. That has definitely enhanced my leader-
ship skills.
In operations, logistics, fulfillment, and manufacturing, you constantly have to adjust to changing situations, like unexpectedly high orders, low volumes,
bad weather, and problems with trucking capacity. I
was a fire chief for many years; you don’t have a lot of
time to react and to make decisions that can impact
peoples’ lives. The decisions I make here affect people too. It’s not life and death, obviously, but the
right decisions need to be made and carried out in a
timely manner.
Jack Samson
