Customer Service and Online Delivery Systems

1113 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Case study on factors affecting inventory management

INTRODUCTION In today’s market, organizations must have the ability to meet customer’s demand, what they want and when they want it. Customer service and on-time delivery are two important factors in today’s environment. Product life cycles have shortened and customers are demanding immediate delivery. A company may have a great product, but if it is not delivered to the customer when they need it, the customer will move to the competitor and the product will fail. Organizations must recognize the importance of their supply chain and ensure that the right solutions and tools are in place. The supply chain is a system/network that includes inventory, distribution and transportation functions and consists of raw material suppliers, producers, storage warehouses, distribution centers and retailers. The traditional methods of replenishment is push replenishment based on forecasts and long lead-times. The traditional methods cause the Bullwhip effect, which happens when variance increases in ordering patterns as you move higher up (upstream) in the supply chain. Problems with traditional methods of replenishment and forecasting errors include: • Long lead-times – late deliveries, not able to meet customers expected delivery dates. • Insufficient inventories – out of stock, short/insufficient shipments. • Excess inventory – large inventories. • Incorrect product mix – too much inventory of products that do not sell and not enough inventory of products in demand. Managing a supply chain system based on a customer driven focus, requires the right inventory in the right place at the right time. An effective inventory replenishment method implemented in the supply chain is a key factor to maintaining low inventory and high customer ... ... middle of paper ... ...er & Gamble uses consumer demand info to drive supply network. Retrieved from, http://www.supplychainbrain.com/content/index.php?id=5032&cHash=081010&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=600 Youngman, K. J. (2014). A guide to implementing the theory of constraints (toc). Retrieved from http://www.dbrmfg.co.nz/Supply%20Chain%20Replenishment%20&%20Distribution.htm Wu, H., Chen, C., Tsai, C., & Tsai, T. (2010). A study of an enhanced simulation model for TOC supply chain replenishment system under capacity constraint. Expert Systems with Applications, 37(9), 6435 – 6440. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.fau.edu/10.1016/j.eswa.2010.02.074 ExperiencePGnow (2012, December 4). P&G supply network operations (sno). Retrieved from, http://youtu.be/qfw4RmbKB-M PGCareers, (2011, November 24). Supply network operations (logistics) at procter & gamble. Retrieved from, http://youtu.be/GEceq7MOSs0

Show More
Related

  • Austin Wood Products Organizational Purchasing

    929 Words  | 2 Pages

    Once they develop and implement this inventory control system, inventory records are going to be upheld truthfully and that they will get the accurate standing of the inventory up-to-date. In order to maintain the steady continuous supply for production need... ... middle of paper ... ... ory holding costs, ordering costs, and shortage costs, and have a classification system for inventory items. In conclusion, while reading the case study, I saw much disorganization throughout the company’s entire system.

    Read More

  • Cisco research

    603 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...2013). Cisco channel sales and inspiration in the age of internet. Contemporary Logistics, (12), 14-30. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1468933047?accountid=3783

    Read More

  • Bullwhip Effect

    1320 Words  | 3 Pages

    …the increased variability in the order process (i) requires each facility to increase the safety stock in order to maintain a given service level, (ii) leads to increased costs due to overstocking throughout the system, and (iii) can lead to an inefficient use of resources, such as labor and transportation…

    Read More

  • Target's Theory Of Constraints (TOC)

    1281 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Theory of Constraints The Theory of Constraints (TOC) is a methodology to service management that allows direct the company towards achieving results logical and systematic

    Read More

  • What Is Inventory Vs. Inventory?

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sunil Chopra and Peter Mendl argue that inventory is one of the drivers of the supply chain performance and that it has a great impact as the other drivers, such as facilities and transportation which are the same as inventory being ‘Logistical Drivers’. Analyzing the position of inventory in the supply chain, certain factors of the inventory will be taken into account such as the responsiveness, economies of scale, the different variations of inventory, how other factors will affect the inventory, and transportation, which as stated before it is one of the drivers in the supply chain, Vs. inventory. All these concepts of inventory will be analyzed in the supermarkets domain and how crucial is inventory for the supply chain performance.

    Read More

  • The Fashion Industry: Zara

    1482 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ferdows, K., Lewis, M., & Machuca, J. A.D., 2003. Zara. Supply Chain Forum: International Journal, 4(2), 62-66.

    Read More

  • Advantages And Disadvantages Of Sears

    1292 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the current business environment, Supply Chain Management is experiencing a period of rapid change and influence within organizations. It is no longer simply about reducing costs, but more importantly, it is about enhancing business value and embracing proven disciplines to leverage the supply chain for competitive differentiation, financial return, and demand driven operational and innovation excellence. Sears Holdings Corp.’s supply chain operations always tries to improve to meet the company’s needs in a different location, but also customers in matter of delivering the items in short time. Sears has piloted a few new supply chain models that leverage existing inventory and existing retail distribution centers, meaning a small number of store locations now fulfill online orders, and to help the company manage its distribution network. Which include forty five distribution centers and a hundred market delivery operation sites for cross-docking to ensure its almost two thousand and five hundreds retail locations remain stocked and that online orders are fulfilled. Sears now is able to ship products to about 85% of the country in two days or less. This is accomplished by making the delivery process predictable, focused and tightly controlled while simultaneously applying supply chain best practices through experienced industry professionals.

    Read More

  • The Role and the Importance of Supply Chain Management

    1624 Words  | 4 Pages

    ‘Supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies. It encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, thir- party service providers, and customers’. (Web: Council for Supply Chain Management Pr...

    Read More

  • Global Supply Chain Management

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lean manufacturing and just-in-time processing are great business strategies that can severely stress a supply chain. The supply chain and supply chain management is a critical operations management element for any major company to succeed and remain competitive in the global market. The supply chain is one of many pieces critical to maximizing value to the end customer and requires close management to minimize external impacts. If a company is relying on another company to supply the raw materials needed for their production line, then impacts to this other company could impact their supply chain. Careful risk management is needed to optimize performance. As a company expands into global markets and global suppliers, this risk and management challenge is multiplied. The global nature of the company could impact important activities such as transportation, funds transfers, suppliers, distributors, accounting and information sharing. Disruption to the supply chain can significantly reduce revenue, cut market share, inflate costs and threaten production. A major disruption would have obvious impacts to profit, but could have additional intangible impacts to the credibility of the company if products are not delivered on time.

    Read More

  • Dell Business Strategy Change

    1926 Words  | 4 Pages

    SCN, 2008, 'Complete Transcript of Michael Cannon of Dell Describing Plans for Supply Chain Transformation', Supply Chain News, 14 April,

    Read More

  • Cisco Systems Case Study

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    In addition, at the time, the economy was doing great, therefore, using the push system to stock pile inventory was acceptable. However, during the dot-com bust of the 2000’s, its sales and the demand for its products greatly decreased. Unfortunately, during this time, Cisco discovered that it possessed an abundance of inventory, and, wrote off more than $1 billion in inventory. Consequently, the company learned that acquiring inventory in anticipation of market demand, and not factoring in the human element of its business increased its risks of failure. Obviously, Cisco wanted to meet its customer’s demands, however, the problem was that it held more inventory than what the customers were demanding. Nevertheless, afterwards, it knew that it needed to adopt a new, more efficient approach to inventory. Therefore, Cisco had to reevaluate its supply chain system and seek input from IT, customers, suppliers, and finance. Further, by including input from these sources, Cisco adopted the more efficient pull system. The pull system, is dependent upon producing smaller repeating orders. Rather than the push system, which relies on larger less repeating orders. Effective inventory management, when administered correctly, can reduce and keep the inventory to a more desired level. In addition, Cisco discovered that inventory management can reduce inventory levels, enhance cash flow and reduce overall

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Customer Satisfaction In The Supermarket

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    Customer satisfaction is the overriding factor for the successful operation. Sales of the supermarket can grow when it makes its customers satisfied with the goods or services by best policy to fit customers’ requirement. So, it can be told that customer satisfaction is followed by customer revisiting or repurchasing. They can also tell their acquaintances about products or services as good. Customer satisfaction and sales might be linked directly, companies have to check the factors periodically such as quality, schedule, layout, inventory and so on to lift customer satisfaction because even small factors that employees didn’t recognize can affect consumer satisfaction enormously.

    Read More

  • The Benefits Of Supply Chain

    955 Words  | 2 Pages

    A supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products, and deliver the products to customers through a distribution system [1]. The basic objective of supply chain is to “optimize performance of the chain to add as much value as possible for the least cost possible.

    Read More

  • Supply Chain Analysis: Frito-Lay

    1528 Words  | 4 Pages

    Zanjirani F., Rezapour, S. & Kardar, L. (2011) Logistics operations and management concepts and models, 1st ed. London ; Elsevier.

    Read More

  • Operations Management: McDonald's Competitive Advantage

    3031 Words  | 7 Pages

    Coyle, J., Langley, C., Gibson, B., Novack, R. and Bardi, E. (2008).Supply Chain Management: A Logistics Perspective. 8th ed. Cengage Learning, p.366.

    Read More

More about Customer Service and Online Delivery Systems

Open Document