Tj Max Supply Chain Analysis

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.

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: Effective supply chain management is one of the most important operational strategies that allow company to enjoy sustainable competitive advantage. More than the manufacturing expenses the distribution costs are high. If a retail firm has a proper supply chain management it can cut down the cost and have a competitive advantage of providing goods at lower cost. The cross docking concept that was introduced by the Wal-Mart was one of effective concept.

When the ‘bricks and mortar’ store based retailing is considered, Walmart employs different methods of supply chain. Vendor management inventory is one of the methods run down by Walmart for an efficient

A supply chain is a net work of firms. Thus, each firm in the chain should build its own supply chains to support the competitive priorities of its services or products. Two distinct designs used to competitive advantage are efficient supply chains and responsive supply chains. Efficient supply chains work best in environments where demand is highly predictable. The focus of the supply chain is on efficient flows of services and materials keeping inventories to a minimum. The firm’s competitive priorities are low-cost operations, consistent quality, and on-time delivery. Responsive supply chains designed to react quickly in order to hedge against uncertainties in demand. Work best when firms offer a great variety of services or products and demand predictability is low. Typical competitive priorities are development speed, fast delivery times, customization, variety, volume flexibility, and top quality. Tables below show the environments and design features that best suit each design.

Morrisons Logistics manager will also have to ensure that they have the products in stock when they need it so they don’t run out of the products and this way they can replenish the stock before its completely finished because when stock is finished even for a small time it means that customers aren’t happy and result in moving to other brands which are Morrisons competitors.

Retail industry depends on their supplier which thus indicated that supplier within the industry have a high bargaining power. The supply chain agility of chain stores has improved over the past several years, as evidenced by their ability to increase inventory turnover by 2.6% per year between 2002 and 2008. The largest discrepancies between chain and non-chain stores regarding inventory turnover growth occurred in the home electronics and appliance stores, computer and software stores, specialized building materials

Moving things starting with one place then onto the next or exchanging overwhelming materials from distribution centers to stores requires the utilization of substantial vehicles with the ability to handle this assignment. Aside from this, the need to move waste or junk far from the area would likewise require the utilization of vehicles to handle this undertaking. The substantial vehicles utilized as a part of these cases are called tippers. Tippers could be utilized for business or non-business purposes, and there are an extensive variety of vehicles accessible for tipper enlist. These reach from trailers, tipper trucks, catamounts, excavators and tipper couple. The most well-known tippers that are contracted are tipper trucks, which are somewhat generally accessible, and which you can pick contingent on the reason for which it is required.

Kroger has done a better job as of resent, but I would go into one of their grocery stores and find what I needed and then go into another one and not be able to find it. The layouts of each one would be different. Each retail chain should have the same layout so it is consistent no matter what store you go into. A c-store is a convenient store, many times you can walk in and it is not merchandised well. Maybe they have so much to put into a small space. “Take a look at what your customers see when they enter your store. Shoppers tend to stay to their right-hand side when they enter a store, and continue walking along the perimeter to do much of their buying” (Chiasson, 2008). It is important to put the sale items at the checkout and the new items to the right of the store.

A robust supply chain is needed in order to ensure that shelves stay fully stocked. Therein lies the major operations battle which Target, like its competitors, Walmart and Costco, to name a couple, must perfect in order to achieve a competitive

Target Corp. is making changes to the way it operated in hope of enhancing online sales. Target has recently hired another supply chain executive. This executive, Benjamin Cook, worked for Apple before this. The article states, "Mr. Cook 'will lead the optimization of Target’s inbound and outbound supply chain processes, including carrier transportation and last-mile delivery,' in addition to overseeing inventory and merchandise planning, the company said Wednesday." Inventory management is where a person keeps track of where the goods are located. This happens to be a big focus for target and other retail stores if they have more than one store. Target executives think that the way to fix the inventory mess is to change the shopping patterns.

Target Corporation is the fourth largest retailer in the United States. The company operates 1,556 stores in 47 states. The company has three main retail divisions: Target Stores, Mervyn’s and Marshall Fields. Target Stores is the number two discount retailer in the country, trailing only Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. they have distinguished itself from its competitors by offering upscale, fashion-conscious products at affordable prices (Funding Universe, n.d.). Targets supply chain actives has been an important part of and one of the most significant reasons for its huge growth and success. The purpose of paper is to analyze Targets supply chain and related actives to understand its effectiveness and gain a better understanding on how their supply chain contributes to the company’s growth and success.

An effective supply chain is the key to creating business value, and with expansion on the horizon. Good planning and willingness to adapt to changes are key to maximizing our results. In order to do this we have come up with a plan that will make Lady Americana mattresses a household name in our target expansion markets. In the state of Oklahoma, Lady Americana has already become a brand that has a bed in almost every home. The current systems in place are effective for todays operations, below are some challenges and recommendations to improve upon this to create an effective supply chain, that will grow with you as your business does.

The largest companies within this industry have chains of stores around the country. They usually operate their clothing distribution channels through distribution centers usually located centrally. These distribution centers receive the merchandise and then send it out to stores across the country that orders them. Unlike typical warehouses, these distribution centers don’t store merchandise for a long time because of the dynamic nature of the industry. Fashion trends keep changing and products are taken off the shelves when they do not move fast.

In an organization, product quality and delivery is largely dependent on the supply chain management which in turn affects the overall profitability. Therefore, supply chain quality control is essential in any organization to ensure a competitive edge in the industry and minimizing the operating costs. Firms are thus competing on the innovation front to stay upfront in meeting customer expectations. One of the industry in which advances in supply chain management have been evolving rapidly is the retail industry. Due to the changing nature of the competitiveness in the retail industry, supply chain managers must come up with expansion plans that align with multiple-channel and geographic growth.

“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）