Hammonds Operating Brief — Draft V2

Prepared from working discussions with Jaco Snyman | Draft version for operational review

1. Purpose

This document is a structured operating brief for Hammonds Bathroom Cabinets. It is intended to capture the current business structure, product structure, systems, roles, workflows, controls, and operational logic in one practical reference document. It can later be refined into formal SOPs, training material, and implementation checklists.

2. Business Overview

• Business: Hammonds Bathroom Cabinets
• Industry: Manufacturing, import, and wholesale
• Location: 25 Stellenberg Road, Parow Industria, Cape Town, South Africa
• Core offer: Custom-made bathroom cabinets, standard bathroom cabinet ranges, wash hand basins, toilets, and factory shop items
• Sister company: AccuCut CNC Services manufactures cabinets for Hammonds and can also produce other cabinet types or manufacture from cutting lists

2.1 Business model

Hammonds imports sanitaryware such as basins and toilets, then manufactures cabinets to suit the basin ranges it imports. The business also offers custom-made units, which is one of its main competitive advantages. Sales are mainly to plumbing merchants and contractors, with an additional COD/walk-in channel through the Cabinet and Bathroom Factory Shop.

2.2 Main customer channels

• Plumbing merchants and contractors as the main wholesale/commercial channel
• COD / showroom customers through the Cabinet and Bathroom Factory Shop
• Digital / enquiry channels including phone, WhatsApp, email, Facebook, Instagram, websites, and FTG

2.3 Current priorities

• Create a custom cabinet calculator called Cabinex by Hammonds
• Create a digital file of standard-stock cutting lists
• Update ClickUp information for key business lists
• Set up and use a team of AI agents to support the business

3. Company and Operating Structure

3.1 Core operating entities

• Hammonds Bathroom Cabinets — front-end trading business for bathroom cabinets and sanitaryware
• AccuCut CNC Services — manufacturing business that produces cabinets and related work
• The Cabinet and Bathroom Factory Shop — showroom / factory-shop channel for cancelled orders, discontinued stock, sample items, and imperfect stock
• The Petersen Family Trust — separate property/leasing activity managed operationally by Janice and financially by Nicolette where relevant

3.2 Operating model

Hammonds and AccuCut operate as linked businesses. Hammonds handles commercial sales, office processing, showroom activity, and customer-facing order flow. AccuCut handles manufacturing execution. Operationally, Jaco remains the main coordinating decision-maker across both environments, with Janice leading office operations and Nicolette leading finance.

4. Team Structure

4.1 Leadership and ownership

4.2 Office and sales team

4.3 Factory, stores, and delivery team

4.4 Functional ownership summary

• Jaco remains the main owner of factory performance, pricing, product decisions, major complaints, websites, social direction, and broad business coordination.
• Janice owns day-to-day office management and has significant authority in commercial/administrative decisions.
• Nicolette owns finance and financial administration with high autonomy.
• The office team handles order capture, quoting support, communication, packing administration, collections, and showroom support.
• The factory/stores/delivery team handles production, cleaning, stock movement, dispatch support, and customer delivery execution.

5. Product Structure

5.1 Main product groupings

• Sanitaryware
  • Cabinet basins
  • Art / freestanding basins
  • Wall-hung basins
  • Toilets
• Cabinets
  • Standard stock cabinets
    • Universal Cabinets
    • Pammy Cabinets
    • Jackie Cabinets
    • Madeira Cabinets
    • Japan Cabinets
    • Mirror Cabinets
    • Tallboy Cabinets
• Custom-made cabinets
• Spares
  • Toilet seats
  • Flushing mechanisms
  • Fixation bolts
  • Overflow rings
  • Other replacement parts

5.2 Stock typically kept

• Toilets
• Wash hand basins
• Standard stock cabinets
• Mirrors
• Cabinet basins

6. Systems and Source of Truth

6.1 Source of truth by area

• Customers: Sage / Pastel for accounting master data; ClickUp holds additional sales-rep or coordination details.
• Orders: BoB is the operational order record.
• Products: Product brochures and operational product setup support day-to-day product information.
• Pricing: Pricelist supported by product costing sheets and cabinet calculators.
• Factory tasks: ClickUp is the main production workflow tracker for custom items.

7. Enquiries and Quoting

7.1 Standard stock enquiries

1. Customer asks for a standard stock item by phone, WhatsApp, email, or from the pricelist.
2. Staff provide pricing from the standard pricelist.
3. A quote is created on BoB.
4. The quote is sent electronically to the customer.

Best practice: Even if the customer only requested a verbal price, the quote should still be sent electronically to create a clear record.

7.2 Custom-made enquiries

1. Gather all relevant custom unit information.
2. Create the quote on BoB.
3. Send the quote electronically.

8. Order Capture and Approval

1. When an order is received, it goes to Leugene or Kerri depending on office handling.
2. A quote is created on BoB if not already created.
3. Janice checks and approves the quote, especially for special-made cabinets.
4. The quote is converted to a Sales Order.
5. Once the sales order is created, the order appears in the ClickUp list BoB Inbound where relevant to custom workflow tracking.

8.1 BoB Inbound responsibilities

• BoB Inbound is used for all orders.
• When the order arrives, Janice or Jaco change the custom fields for Category and Top.
• If Custom Cabinet is selected, the workflow status moves toward Jaco to Check.

9. Custom Manufacturing Workflow

9.1 Factory handoff setup

1. For a custom-made unit, a manual spec sheet is created for the factory.
2. Jaco checks the spec sheet against the ClickUp task and the actual order received.
3. This confirms that BoB, ClickUp, and the customer order are aligned before factory progress continues.

9.2 Trigger into manufacturing

After Jaco completes the verification, he changes the relevant ClickUp custom field to Jaco Checked. This creates a duplicate and dependent task in the Hammonds Specials list.

9.3 Board logic

• BoB Inbound is for all orders.
• Hammonds Specials is only for custom/manufacturing items.
• Hammonds Specials has additional manufacturing-related fields such as fittings needed.
• The two boards are connected and custom field status is aligned between them.

9.4 Production stages

1. Abdul creates the cutting list for required melamine.
2. Abdul cuts MDF and adds patterns where required.
3. Abdul updates Cut = Done.
4. This changes the status to Wrapping Station.
5. Abdul also updates melamine ordering as required.
6. Panels move to the wrapping station.
7. PVC wrapping is applied.
8. Jaco updates Wrap = Done.
9. Status changes to Assembly Station.
10. Allen assembles the cabinet.
11. Jaco updates Assemble = Done.
12. Status changes to Cleaning.
13. At cleaning stage, the system automatically prints the barcode and adds stock to BoB and Sage.
14. Martin, Jordan, and George handle cabinet cleaning before stock booking / readiness.
15. Once the cabinet is labelled, cleaned, packaged, and barcoded, Jaco changes final status to P/B.

9.5 Purpose of the spec sheet

• Abdul checks what must be cut according to the spec sheet and ClickUp.
• Elijah checks colour and pattern requirements.
• Allen checks colour and pattern again before and during assembly.
• The spec sheet gives the factory a practical quality reference at every stage.

10. Picking, Packing, Delivery, and Collection

10.1 Picking

1. Office staff check BoB to see which orders can be picked.
2. BoB shows orders for the customer and which items have stock available.
3. Picking slips are created.
4. George or Martin picks the items and moves them to the colour-coded picking area / delivery-collection area.

10.2 Packing

1. Leugene performs the BoB Pack function and scans items as packed.
2. George assists with physical load preparation.
3. Barcode scanning is used to validate correct items.
4. If the wrong item is scanned, the system identifies it as incorrect.

10.3 Delivery

1. Janice plans delivery routes herself.
2. Once the truck is packed, a delivery / shipping note is printed in duplicate as backup.
3. Preferred delivery method: products are scanned and customer signs electronically via scanner / ePOD.
4. Backup delivery method: manual delivery note if scanner or internet access fails.
5. Only once delivery is confirmed does BoB trigger Sage to create an invoice for delivered quantities.

10.4 Collection

For collections, or COD showroom situations, staff can use a quick fulfil function. This handles pick, pack, and ship in one step, after which the customer signs via ePOD.

10.5 Custom-manufactured items after stock booking

Once the custom cabinet has been booked into stock through the cleaning-stage trigger, it follows the same practical fulfilment flow as standard items.

10.6 Scanning principle

The practical rule is that items are scanned when moving through fulfilment and again when the customer receives/loads the goods and signs the ePOD.

11. Payment and Invoice Trigger

• Invoice trigger: invoice is created only after the item is delivered or collected and the ePOD is signed.
• COD terms: 50% deposit and 50% before collection or release.
• EFT terms: payment must reflect in the bank account before goods can be released.
• Yoco: accepted as a payment method.
• Merchants: most are on 30-day account terms; merchants not on account are treated like COD customers.
• Release authority: Janice or Nicolette can confirm that payment has reflected for COD/non-account release.

12. QC and Control Points

• Quote approval before conversion to sales order
• Jaco comparison of spec sheet, ClickUp, and actual order
• Abdul check against spec sheet for cutting requirements
• Elijah colour and pattern check
• Allen colour and pattern check during assembly
• Cleaning, labelling, packaging, and barcode readiness before P/B
• Barcode validation during picking and packing
• Delivery / collection scan confirmation with signed ePOD before invoicing

These are already practical QC gates, but they should later be made more explicit as formal release gates in the final SOP.

13. Current Bottlenecks and Operating Tensions

• Creating cutting lists for melamine orders to send to Davidsons for cutting
• Updating and maintaining websites with current products and relevant information
• Managing social media ads and responses across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp
• Need for more quoting automation for standard items where customers do not use the pricelist properly
• FTG is important but currently under-maintained; steady daily updates are preferred over leaving it as backlog

14. Open Items for Later Refinement

• Formal approval map and decision limits
• Exception handling for returns, damages, shortages, failed deliveries, and order amendments
• More explicit readiness criteria before goods move to delivery / collection
• Automation mapping between ClickUp field changes and system triggers
• Training version by staff role
• Final tightening of thinner or weaker areas once additional details are supplied

15. Draft Status

This is a working second draft based on the current operational discussion and historical chat context. It is intended for review, correction, and structured refinement into a fuller operating manual.