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Case study on factors affecting inventory management
Walmart: Supply Chain Management
Walmart efficient supply chain
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5.0 HOW IT ACT AS ENABLER- IT BECOME AN ENABLER FOR THE
COMPANY STRATEGY
Information technology (IT) is the use of any computers, storage, networking and other physical devices, infrastructure and processes to create, process, store, secure and exchange all forms of electronic data. IT includes several layers of physical equipment (hardware), virtualization and management or automation tools, operating systems and applications (software) used to perform essential functions. IT becomes enabler technology is an equipment or methodology that, alone in combination with associated technologies, provides the means to generate giant leaps in performance and capabilities of the user. Walmart have several information systems that used to run the
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A point of sale system is designed to provide this information to the business owner. Walmart as a largest retailer in the United States has their own point of sale system.
POS enable Walmart knows exactly the volume of sales on any given day and during any point of the day. By using POS, Walmart also can determine how many cashiers they will need for certain hours on any given day of the week. This ways will reduces labor costs because they can open up the proper number of registers and not bring in too many cashiers reducing labor costs. Furthermore, by having the proper number of cashiers during heavier periods of time, customers will refrain from the leaving the store because the lines are too long.
By using of POS, supplier of Walmart will get the information directly from the retailers that use point of sale systems that provide minute by minute updates in total sales nationwide. The transaction activities from all the stores are compiles to the headquarters.
5.2 Electronic Data Interchange
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Besides that, it also can help Walmart to track sale, reduce costs, improve customer service, and so on. By this strategy, Walmart knows exactly the volume of sales on any given day and during any point of the day. A POS system provides the latest sales reports for the day, week, month, or year of the company. POS allows for improved customer service. Transactions are processed much quicker, item that are scanned for their price are accurate which lessens sales discrepancies.
There is also a wide selection of methods to take payments such as credit cards, debit cards, gift cards. Businesses can also keep track of the time of day that certain products are selling so they can arrange marketing displays around peak selling times. As well, businesses will spend less time on paperwork, inventory management, sales record keeping, as well as managing such programs as marketing, advertising programs, discount programs, and much more. For example, through Walmart’s development of a strategic supply chain management system, they have been able to optimize their logistics, procurement, and inventory management system which has been a key factor in reinforcing their everyday low price
The Walmart is able to keep track of its inventory with the help of a little gadget called, Telson. It scans the bar code which is not just a simple thing but it is almost like an encyclopedia as it tells all the information. The power of information is hidden in a bar code. It is very important as it keeps track of all the sales for example what is being sold, when is it being sold, history, sale prices and trend prices.
As seen in Exhibit F, Best Buy has 1,055 main locations that consist of their standard large format stores, and 406 Best Buy Mobile locations that focus on mobile device sales. To supply these locations, Best Buy has 23 distribution centers located throughout the country. Comparatively, Wal-Mart has 4,625 stores stocked by 158 strategically located distribution centers. This puts Wal-Mart at a huge advantage in a couple of ways. Not only is Wal-Mart much more likely to have a store nearby any given customer, they are also better equipped to keep its products in stock at all times. This means more customers visit, and due to stocking, more customers can make the purchase they want. On an international level, Wal-Mart also exceeds Best Buy’s few hundred stores with 6,308 stores in over 11 countries. This furthers Wal-Mart’s availability to customers and puts them at an advantage over Best Buy. Additionally, the increased scale of Wal-Mart’s retail and distributive operations make them extremely competitive on pricing, a major aspect of purchase decisions for high-ticket items like consumer electronics.
In 1945, Sam Walton opened his first variety store and in 1962, he opened his first Wal-Mart Discount City in Rogers, Arkansas. Now, Wal-Mart is expected to exceed “$200 billion a year in sales by 2002 (with current figures of) more than 100 million shoppers a week…(and as of 1999) it became the first (private-sector) company in the world to have more than one million employees.” Why? One reason is that Wal-Mart has continued “to lead the way in adopting cutting-edge technology to track how people shop, and to buy and deliver goods more efficiently and cheaply than any other rival.” Many examples exist throughout Wal-Mart’s history including its use of networks, satellite communication, UPC/barcode adoption and more. Much of the technology that was utilized helped Sam Walton more efficiently track what he originally noted on yellow legal pads. From the very beginning, he wanted to know what the customers purchased, what inventory was selling and what stock was not selling. Wal-Mart now “tracks on an almost instantaneous basis the ordering, shipment, and delivery of literally every item it sells, and that it requires its suppliers to hook into the system, enabling it to track most goods every step of the way from the time they’re made and packaged in the factories to when they’re carried out store doors by shoppers.” “Wal-Mart operates the world’s most powerful corporate computing system, with a capacity (as of late 1999) of more than 100 terabytes of data (A terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes, or roughly the equivalent of 250 million pages of text.).
They currently use an “omnistyle” strategy, which makes the inventory in stores and distribution centers available to customers to keep up with the eCommerce demands. Walmart’s omnistyle strategy is similar to what Apple is doing when they are enlisting their vendors to ship product directly to customers. This method cuts out a middle-man, potentially saves shipping costs, and gets the product to the customer quicker.
Walmart’s ownership and execution of the supply chain is a core competency that sets them apart from the competition. They have minimized the turnaround time to replenish inventory back into the stores. They also have agreements with suppliers to deliver products direct to the stores. Walmart owns 158 distribution centers strategically located in close proximity to many Walmart stores. The distribution centers employ 7,000 truck drivers to deliver truckloads of merchandise to the 10,700 retail stores with their tractors and trailers, as the inventory system dictates.
The only real Information systems used in each Dollar General store is their satellite link up (space net) and the POS (point of sale) software Triverstiy which enables headquarters with the day's sales information.
To further shore up his "IT as commodity" theory, Carr cites the fact that major technology vendors, such as Microsoft and IBM, are positioning themselves as "IT utilities," companies that control the provision of business applications over "the grid." Couple this IT-as-utility trend with the rapidly decreasing cost of processing power, data storage and transmission, and even the most "cutting-edge IT capabilities quickly become available to all."
Walmart leverages the IMS to track products or packages. Because they know when the products are sold, how long did it take for it to sell and where they were sold? They use this information to refine the flow of products. The power is going from push to the pull. The product is not driving the final transaction. The customer is important and the interaction that the customer has with the product in the store is essential as well.
Information Technology (IT) is a foundation for conducting business today. It plays a critical role in increasing productivity of firms and entire nation. It is proven that firms who invested in IT have experienced continued growth in productivity and efficiency. Many companies' survival and even existence without use of IT is unimaginable. IT has become the largest component of capital investment for companies in the United States and many other countries.
From the manufacturers’ warehouse to the shelves, the business must orchestrate a symphony of the right products to the right places at the right times. Walmart serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week in retail outlets, online and on mobile devices. The company is able to offer a vast range of products at the lowest costs in the shortest possible time (Chandran, 2001). The main reason for this incredible growth of Walmart is because its distribution centers are highly automated.
The benefits or competitive advantage Wal-Mart derived over the years from its supply chain management practices is also covered. The reason Wal-Mart is ahead of their competition is because they invest in technology in the 1980s. This investment paid off in the long run. Wal-Mart invested heavily in IT and communication systems to effectively track sales and merchandise inventories in stores across the country. They have set up own satellite communication in 1983. Employees at the stores have the ‘Magic Wand’ at hand. These barcode scanners allow you to check the prices of items at that particular store by scanned the barcode on the product. This is especially helpful when there is clearance that isn 't always marked and sometimes clearance items are cheaper than they
R&D and as a result Kodak could sell color film earlier than other companies. From one hand
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is a renowned retail goods superstore that sits atop the Fortune list at number one. It would be very difficult to find an individual who is unaware of Walmart’s position as the largest brick-and-mortar retail chain in the world. The company has thrived over the past few years and continues to grow by effectively managing its store operations and distribution strategies. One of the major contributors to the business consistently meeting market expectations is directly attributable to their management approach. Walmart has revolutionized the way retail companies manage their supply chains in more ways than one.
There are many reasons for choosing to go into a store to purchase items needed. For instance, having someone assist you in finding what you need, or just answer questions about the product. It is also a way to get off the couch, away from the television, or off the computer. Another feature is you can see and examine what you are going to purchase. This helps in the decision making for most people. You know the minute the salesperson rings you up, the product is yours to take home and use right aw...
First, they get their own system to track down their inventory. If they recognize the deficiency in its inventory on their system, they can easily find out how to manage inventory to catch customer’s demands. It lessens the risk of occurrences of their out-of-stock events. Their system also includes supermarket’s supply chain. It does not focus on just inventory, but it can show managers that their all operations are working well by Wegmans’s strategy. Managers always check out its own supply chain and producing department. For example, they can log all their food’s record by mobile computing tablets. Manufacturers and date of manufacture are registered by all records associated with grocery. It can not only reduce staff requirements and expenses, but also gain