tailieunhanh - Ebook Operations management - Processes and supply chains (10th edition): Part 2

(BQ) Part 2 book "Operations management - Processes and supply chains" has contents: Supply chain inventory management, supply chain design, supply chain integration, resource planning, forecasting, supply chain integration,.and other contents. | PART 3 Managing Supply Chains Paul J. Milette/Palm Beach Post/ZUMA Press/Newscom 9 SUPPLY CHAIN INVENTORY MANAGEMENT An employee stacks a shipment of pet supplies at a new Walmart distribution center in Fort Pierce, Florida. The million square foot facility will serve 45 Walmart stores on the east coast of Florida. Inventory Management at Walmart n the market for shaver blade replacements? A printer? First-aid supplies? Dog food? Hair spray? If so, you expect that the store you shop at will have what you want. However, making sure that the shelves are stocked with tens of thousands of products is no simple matter for inventory managers at Walmart, which has 8,800 Walmart stores and Sam’s Club locations in 15 markets, employs more than 2 million associates, serves 200 million customers per week worldwide, and uses 100,000 suppliers. You can imagine in an operation this large that some things can get lost. Linda Dillman, then CIO at Walmart, recounts the story of the missing hair spray at one of the stores. The shelf needed to be restocked with a specific hair spray; however, it took three days to find the case in the backroom. Most customers will not swap hair sprays, so Walmart lost three days of sales on that product. Knowing what is in stock, in what quantity, and where it is being held is critical to effective inventory management. Without accurate inventory information, companies can make major mistakes by ordering too much, not enough, or shipping products to the wrong location. Companies can have large inventories and still have stockouts of product because they have too much inventory of some products and not enough of others. Walmart, a $405 billion company with inventories in excess of $33 billion, is certainly aware of the potential benefits from improved inventory management and is constantly experimenting with ways to reduce inventory investment. Knowing when to replenish inventory stocks and I 307 308 PART 3 MANAGING SUPPLY .