Collaboration

Since the design department is new here and it only has one employee (me) the collaboration that takes place is more about people specific jobs and division of responsibilities. Adam Pennebaker (co owner of Pennebaker Enterprises) is the COO (Chief Operations Officer) and he deals more with vendors and the delivery center. Bo is the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and deals more with financial and legal.  I report more to Adam on most projects and my office in located inside the Ashley store. Adam and Bo have offices in a different building so I don't see them everyday. When I place an order if its an Ashley product it is already in the computer system that automatically places orders. If its a non Ashley item or a custom item I make a manual Purchase Order and give it to Sarah who is Merchandise Coordinator/ Expediter. She enters the items in the system so I can write a sales order on the computer. This allows the item to be attached to the sales order when it is received at the delivery center.  The delivery center is 36000 square foot building for receiving and organizing deliveries of furniture. There are teams to receive product and check it for damage. If it needs assembly they do that there. Then we have teams of delivery trucks and a service van. Art work, mirrors, lamps and some accent furniture are received at the store in the small warehouse area by the floor designer and floor support.

In the store there are a lot of other people that I interact with or have specific rolls. The store manager and assistant manager help with portions of the computer ordering system that are only accessible by them. The GSR's (guest services representative) do all the paperwork, receive all types of payments or financing and handle guest sales orders  I track all my jobs and payments and send my commission sheets to one of our accountants. We also have a person in charge of all advertising which is geared towards the retail side and none on the design side, so I interact with her very little unless I need business cards.. Although I'm no longer one of the 12 sales person on the public retail side of Ashley furniture, I am still friends with them and interact with them when I am out on the sales floor. I have access to product lines they do not so much of my work is done on line in my office.