Last Mile Essay

Retail super-giant Wal-Mart has fought its way to becoming the world's largest company. Wal-Mart’s legendary supply chain technology has allowed them to break the three-day barrier that some economists in the eighties felt that it was unbreakable. In other words, Wal-Mart is often able to replenish items on the Wal-Mart shelf in less than three days – not from the central warehouse to the shelf, but from the manufacturer to the shelf. With quick and reliable 2-day turn around, Wal-Mart is able to maintain lower levels of inventory and still meet customer demand. These lower inventory levels result in either a reduced floor plan with lower carrying costs and lower interest expense – or a greater diversity of products on the store shelves.

When the trucks arrive a small team unloads and bring product to their designated section of the store. For apparel, the clothing is put on racks and wheeled out. Where a small team folds, locates and displays them according to planograms and sets. The process of unloading, locating, displaying should be concluded before the store opens with no products on the sales floor. This is to keep the store looking clean and providing the customers with a clean, stocked environment. The effectiveness of Targets current distribution is good; however, inventory counts often have a crippling effect on the company. Since target launched their online pickup and ship from store the company has noticed an error in their operations. Their inventory counts did not refresh fast enough, if a guest just bought say a dress, it would not be accounted for, for 3-5 hours later in the system. Thus, issues for customer satisfaction would occur when a guest would either see online that we had it in stock, or order it for in store pick up and us not being able to fulfill their order. By improving their inventory management system, Target could see an increase in sales, customer satisfaction and online and in store customer traffic.

During the game, I realized that wide gaps in orders of every role in the supply chain such as factory, distributor and retailer create inventory management challenges. For example, distributor records 0units between week1-week 4 compared to retailer within the same period. The retailer records 3units, 5units, 2units and 2units between weeks 1- week 4. The same applies to factory with 0units from weeks 2-4. Addressing inventory management problems requires developing an average unit level to avoid disappointing customers when demand

Standing at five feet and nine inches and weighing in at 220 pounds, I was not the typical runner. I was quick on my feet, but at long distances I started huffing and puffing so much I thought I could blow a house down. Since I was a child, I had always been overweight. I was heckled and made fun of, but I stayed strong. It wasn’t until high school, though, that I realized I had a problem. I was obese, and it was no ones fault but my own. I needed to change, and one day I did just that. I got off the couch, put down the food, and I started running. I ran and ran, not stopping for the pain or heavy breathing. I was exhausted, but not because of the run but because of my lifestyle. I needed to change my life, and I started

It is to be done in a timely cost-effective manner allowing for a most efficient distribution process. We will be responsible for providing optional shipping services ranging anywhere from rail freight to overnight airfreight shipping.

The most prominent environmental benefit of online shopping is that it requires less transportation. In traditional shopping, inventory often travels more miles before reaching the final destination. Once a product is manufactured, it is first sent to central warehouse, then to regional warehouse, and finally to the store; whereas in online shopping, the product normally travels directly from distributor storehouse to customers (see Figure 3 and 4). The ‘last mile’ is an especially

Delivery to a customer is a key component to retail business, whether online or in a store. Measuring delivery cost efficiency, the total cost of delivery from the stock(s) to the customers’ homes or to the desired store for pick-up is evaluated. The delivery cost is the key measurement for this metric. The

    But there’s a saying in retail circles that the last 100 feet are the hardest. Every effort can be made to heighten the efficiency of the supply chain and get products from the manufacturer to the retailer’s back door in the most cost-effective way possible. Yet, if in-store execution is shoddy, retailers simply end up shooting themselves in the foot.

In a typical supply chain, raw materials are procured and items are produced at one

Commodity items can be effectively discovered from numerous sources and clients trust that it could be conveyed rapidly; if a production network can't be receptive, then the clients will change on to the following source. A conveyance system for retail stockpiling with client pickup acknowledges fast reaction for popularity, low assortment items. Other item items can be effectively appropriated utilizing supplier stockpiling with last-mile conveyance, which is likewise fit for popularity, snappy reaction items

Effective retailing technology allows companies to manage inventory by efficiently storing, shipping, and stocking items that its customers want. Inventory management is the key to a company’s success or failure, and Kmart seems to be the poster child of poor supply chain management. Since as far back as Joseph Antonini’s leadership, Kmart has had logistics issues (Young, 2002). Another recent CEO, Chuck Conaway, went so far as to admit that supply chain management was “the Achilles Heel” of Kmart (Carr & Cone, 2001). This paper will examine how investing in redundancy, having an increase velocity in sensing and responding, and by building an adaptive supply chain community could have reduced the risk that is damaging to a supply chain.

Following considerable investment in new warehouse and carrier management systems the number and quality of delivery options had increased. Now delivery options include: same day, next day or standard delivery options that normally takes around 2-3 days. Also customers can set delivery date by themselves and if wanted can be notified via email or text alerts of delivery status. In addition 85% if orders are tractable

As higher demands continued to be placed on GMM’s production and distribution operations, its transportation network lacked collaboration. In effect, each operation was making individual logistics decisions, creating costly redundancies and inefficiencies throughout the supply chain. However, On-time delivery is critical in their business, and they consistently meet their customers' requirements. With cost, service and punctuality always at the forefront, consolidates shipments, manages carriers, and optimizes air, sea and ground routes. (Penske, 2010)

(Bowersox, D.J., Closs, D.J., and Cooper, M.B. (2010). Supply Chain Logistics Management. (3rd Edition) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Compare the other retailers, logistics is an essential problem in e-commerce and e-business. Over country shipping and one-day shipping are more and more popular in the past years, like Amazon one day shipping, Amazon fresh keeps food in a good condition and deliver in a specific time. Retail leaders Amazon started same-day deliveries and drone shipping careers in 2015, but it hasn't expanded to all industry. The customer's satisfaction degree is closely connected with delivery ability, which makes the logistic problem more important.