WALMART

Founder: Sam Walton Year of establishment: 1962 First store: Arkansas

Supply Chain Driver:

There are six supply chain drivers that are integrated with the motive to achieve companys competitive and supply chain strategy in optimal manners. These supply chain drivers include: 1) Facility 2) Inventory 3) Transportation 4) Information 5) Sourcing 6) Pricing First three drivers of facility, inventory and transportation are logistical drivers, whereas rests of three are known as cross-functional drivers. These six drivers play a vital role in Walmarts supply chain process in order to achieve both efficiency and responsiveness in fulfilling the market demand. The brief description regarding theses drivers as tailored Walmart is as under

1)

Facility

Walmarts 158 distribution centers are hubs of activity for business. Distribution operation is one of the largest in the world. Regional distribution center can have up to 12 miles of conveyor belts, which can move hundreds of thousands of cases through the facility each day. There are 9 disaster distribution centers, strategically located across the country and stocked to provide rapid response to struggling communities in the event of a natural disaster. Each distribution center is more than 1 million square feet in size, and uses more than 5 miles of conveyor belts to keep products moving to

stores 24 hours a day. Every distribution center supports 90 to 100 stores in a 200-mile radius.

2) Inventory
Wal-mart used logistic technique called Cross-docking. In this system, finished goods are directly picked up from the manufacturing site of supplier, sorted out and directly supplied to the customers. This reduces handling and storage of finished products. The system shifted from supply chain to demand chain Because of cross-docking which meant, instead of retailers pushing the products into the system, the customers could pull the products, when & where they required.

3)

Transportation

Walmart is able to move goods to and from distribution centers because they maintain a private fleet of trucks and a skilled staff of truck drivers. Company hired experienced drivers having more than 300,000 accident free miles with no major traffic violation. Every year they drive 700 million miles to make millions of deliveries to our stores and clubs.

4) Information
The universal bar code was established after Wal-Mart pushed the retail industry, which made manufacturers adopt common labelling. The bar allowed retailers to generate all kinds of information, creating a shift of power from manufacturers to retailers. Also WalMart became very good at using the information behind the bar code and is considered a pioneer in developing sophisticated technology to track its inventory and cut the fat out of its supply chain. Wal-Mart now requires its suppliers to provide microchips which will service radio frequency identification, or RFID, which will greatly enhance the systems created by bar codes. RFID tags are usually from two to four square inches in size, and contain a silicon chip that holds a unique string of numbers identifying the item to which it is attached. A separate RFID "reader" receives the information contained in the tag through the tag's antenna. Unlike a bar code, the signal does not have to be read directly by a scanner; RFID signals need only to be in the vicinity of an RFID reader.

5) Sourcing
Walmart Global Sourcing strives to create value by sourcing low cost, high quality merchandise and goods to increase sales, drive efficiencies and optimize the productivity loop purchasing products for less so we can sell them for less. Walmart Global Sourcing is committed to developing local talent to facilitate the direct purchasing of merchandise for all Walmart retail operations. Walmart teams work with all Walmart business units across the globe to source affordable merchandise for customers and goods not-for-resale for internal use. Walmart supporting local agriculture in several countries to reduce dependency on imported produce, create jobs that spur economic growth and provide customers with fresher food at a more affordable price.

6)

Pricing

Walmart's Every Day Low Price (EDLP) strategy traces its origins back to Walmart founder Sam Walton, whose vision remains the driving force behind the company today. To deliver EDLP consistently, Walmart practices Every Day Low Cost (EDLC) across its operations worldwide. Walmart is running several product related initiatives in Asia that save costs and benefit local customers