Supply Chain Management Is A Process Which Requires Precise

As the leading discount retailer in the United States, WalMart (NYSE:WMT) has consistently shown an exceptional ability to master the complexities of logistics, supply chain management, retailing and pricing management. The WalMart supply chain is among the most advanced and sophisticated in its use of analytics and information systems globally, often computing pricing variation and analysis literally overnight based on satellite uploads of information (WalMart Investor Relations, 2013). WalMart has also successfully taken a capital-intensive business model and transformed it into a retailing business capable of generating high profitability from low margin products based one efficiency alone (Zhu, Singh, Manuszak, 2009). WalMart is also one of the most-researched companies in the world, and continues to provide in-depth financial data on their Investor Relations site (WalMart Investor Relations, 2013). The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate the mission, vision, and overall strategy of WalMart and also define three objectives for improving the organization's financial position, showing how the objectives defined relate to the mission, vision and strategy of the company. In addition for each objective, meaningful performance measures are provided in addition to defined expected level of performance as well. For each of the objectives chosen at least one new

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.

Walmart’s approach means frequent, informal cooperation among stores, distribution centres and suppliers and less centralized control. The company’s supply chain allowed consumers to effectively pull merchandise to stores rather than having the company push goods onto shelves by tracking customer purchases and demand. Through the use of universal product codes, implementation of Retail links at the store, use of RFIDs and smart tags, suppliers and manufacturers within the supply chain synchronize their demand forecaste under a collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment scheme, and every link in the chain was connected through technology that includes a central database, store-level point-of-sale systems, and a satellite network. As per report, there was a 16% reduction in out-of-stocks with the use of RFIDs and pointed out that the products using an electronic product code were replenished three times as fast as items that only used bar code technology. These strategies have made Walmart to be the dominant force over other competitors with information and technology helping its supply chain strategy attain greater

The supply chain management is considered as a management concept from past two decades as the customers are concerned about timely and safe delivery. The competitiveness has been increasing among the companies to deliver the products as quickly as possible to the customers all around the world. This has made the supply chain management as a vital tool for the management. This is also measured as a competitive parameter for the companies.

An ideal SCM integrates all aspects of logistics in a rapid manner attempting to achieve the objectives by using who, what, when, where, and why (the 5Ws) for accuracy and success. The focus of this literature will cover the history, functions, modifications and future of SCM, while also considering the literature and preceding research that was conducted in each area. This paper will enhance the readers’ understanding of the SCM in general along with the process and concepts of the subject. It will also enable readers to apply aspects of SCM in their respective line of business. The literature for this review is relative, ranging from one to three years old. Organizations must understand that Supply Chain Management can increase the company’s EBITA (Earnings Before Interest Taxes Amortization) or decrease it if used properly. An additional benefit of an optimal SCM is optimizing time from production to customer, which can increase customer base when the industry notice speed of delivery to customers.

One way is by making information readily available to both the company and the suppliers through online systems. This allows information to be transmitted quickly and products to be made efficiently. The purchasing and distribution activities of Wal-Mart are also parts of the value chain that are very efficient. They try to centralize their purchasing as much as they can. This basically gets rid of the middleman, which then saves money. An automated distribution center will further increase the efficiency of Wal-Mart’s value chain. Wal-Mart also is sure to keep labor costs to a minimum. By making sure the costs of their value chain are low, Wal-Mart is able to be a low-cost industry leader.

The profit margins in the grocery business are extremely thin, so the Kroger Company’s supply change management continually works on improving its supply chain to increase efficiency and reduce costs. Kroger utilizes a program of lean process engineering to constantly improve its supply chain. This process involves examining each individual step of the supply chain from its suppliers to product delivery at its stores and furthermore, this process has been proven to drive down waste and reduce cost (Kroger, 2008). Kroger’s supply chain management is located near the top of the organization structure since the company as a whole has a strong emphasis on improving the supply chain to reduce cost and increase profit margins. Therefore the further up the organizational structure the supply chain management team is located the more optimally it will function and the greater the influence it will have on the decision making process (Burt, Petcavage, and Pinkerton, 2010).

This summer my unit went and visited a distribution center ran by Wal-Mart. Although when you first walk in it looks like complete chaos. They are actually very organized and with the amount of business they are doing you understand why it looks that way. The big take from the inventory process is what is known as cross-docking, we also use this in the military. What this does is allow Wal-Mart to get their products out quickly. For example, if you have a truck of 20 washers and dryers that need to go to a specific place. Cross-docking will allow that truck to be processed as is and shipped to the location without having to download and see if you have those quantities etc. This will allow them to get that product out on the same truck. Another thing that was unique to Wal-Mart was the use of their own unique ERP software specific to their operation, instead of an commercial of the shelf software most companies can use. In my opinion this puts them a step above their

Walmart over the past few decades, spread across America from nearly every small town coast to coast. The stores rapid growth, lead to the availability of a wide variety of low cost goods all in one store. Whether the company is viewed in a positive or negative light is irrelevant when discussing innovation by its ability to spread like wildfire. Technology in recent years is placing a strong fight against the major retailer in terms of convenience. Stores such as Amazon online allow for consumers to purchase goods without ever leaving their homes. Walmart’s innovations in the supply chain management field must adapt to the benefits of online sales if it intends on remaining a strong competition to online stores.

A few reasons as to why Wal-Mart became a leader in the retail industry is due to their practices in obtaining competitive advantage by offering the lowest prices for the market. Wal-Mart built their practices by giving suppliers transparency to meet the demand of customers and granting them long-term relationships by purchasing goods in bulks. In addition, their turn times on inventory are three-five days faster than regular competitors. The inventory shelves are similar to Honda since they only hold up to four hours of inventory in their manufacturing site. Also, Wal-Mart holds their own transportation which is why they can manage their costs efficiently for the company. Their transportations system constitutes links between suppliers, distribution centers and retail stores. They have restrictive criteria for drivers where in order for them to be hired they would have to be accident free for a consistency of minimum 300,000 miles accident free. The supply chain practice that they have gained since they began the business was strategically faster and cheaper than all competitors. 85% of Walmart’s inventory is taken care of by their own transportation system and only about fifteen percent is taken care of by the suppliers through cross-docking. Wal-Mart uses

Walmart is equally ranked among the highly valuable companies, in terms of market value, as well as the biggest grocery retailer where it generates more than 51% of its sales from the grocery business. This paper explores Walmart’s operation management with regard to supply chain characteristics, global business operations, production processes, the company commitment to quality and excellence, inventory methodologies, operational planning and movement towards lean processes (Massengill, 2013).

The dominance of WalMart's (NYSE:WMT) in discount retailing is a direct result of their business process excellence in the areas of supply chain management (SCM), supply chain optimization (SCO) and logistics management with its suppliers and retailing operations globally. What most differentiates WalMart from the many other discount retailers is their agility and speed of using information for insights and analysis (WalMart Investor Relations, 2013). The intent of this analysis is to evaluate how business process improvements can further support the mission, vision and strategy of WalMart. There are also major implications for the profitability of the company as well, and they are explored. Porter's value chain model is also used to illustrate which specific business process improvements are most required by WalMart today.

“Considering present market conditions and the way in which industry demand fluctuates nowadays, firms willing to remain operationally efficient will become more reliant on supply-chain management, This is one of the main reasons for which Wal-Mart has been capable of growing at an annual rate of 15.4%.”（Aleksandrov）

Supply chain management is a main process in all kinds of companies. That’s because an optimized supply chain results in lower costs and a faster production cycle.

Walmart’s inventory management is one of the biggest contributors to the success of the company and integration of technology in promote an effective operational process (Comm and Mathaisel, 2008). The biggest problem of Walmart’s across the world is empty