Supply Chain Innovations by Wal-Mart, Essay Example

Wal- Mart is a leader in helping people around the world live a better lifestyle and save money.  This is accomplished by means of their establishing consumer access to 11,302 stores and ecommerce websites in over twenty seven countries. Wal- Mart has achieved sales revenue of more than $473 billion in 2014 and employs over two million personnel in the twenty seven nations in which they operate (Wal- Mart Stores, 2014). This essay will review the innovations which have been conducted by Wal- Mart with regards to improving the efficiency of its supply chain. The perspectives of Ray (2010) and Wal- Mart Stores (2014) will be included in this essay.

Wal- Mart has participated with other industrial concerns in demonstrating that they are a primary leader in recycling and sustainable agricultural practices.  Wal- Mart is part of an initiative which has the goal of ensuring maintenance of the global food supply to the over nine billion inhabitants which are anticipated to reside on the planet Earth by 2050 (Wal- Mart Stores, 2014).

Wal- Mart leads the industry with its supply chain innovations. Wal- Mart has the ability of marketing in three months an equivalent amount to what the second largest retail outlet, Home Depot markets during a year. This is attributed to the aspect that in the Wal-Mart supply chain, the warehouses are used in order to supply the needs of eighty five percent of the inventory needs of the stores. This is associated with an index of fifty to sixty five percent for the competitors. Wal- Mart applies the use of distribution centers in its supply chain. Wal- Mart is a leader in the application of satellite communication devices, radio frequency identification technology, hand held computers and bar code technology. This enables the supply chain and inventory systems to be monitored and adjusted in real time. (Ray, 2010)

Wal- Mart also applies its own drivers in order to deliver the products in its supply chain. Wal- Mart has an employee base of over three thousand five hundred employees which assure that the products are transported from the distribution canters to the Wal- Mart stores within a two day period of time. Wal- Mart also applies the use of cross docking which is a method that implements the goods being picked up from the manufacturers and sent directly to the clients. The cross docking innovation enables a lower price and cost, reducing the need for the intervention of the distribution canters and stores.  Wal- Mart applies about five different categories of cross docking (Ray, 2010).

The requisitions which are remitted from the Wal- Mart stores are sent and transformed into procurement orders. The orders are subsequently forwarded to the manufacturers who confirm their capacity of supplying the required products during a prearranged time interval. Thisinnovation has changed the Wal- Mart perception of the supply chain into the demand chain (Ray, 2010).

Conclusion

Wal- Mart has become an industry leader by applying innovations in logistics, inventory control and supply chain management. The innovations of taking leadership in ensuring the global food supply for future inhabitants and implementing the cross docking method of inventory logistics management have caused Wal-Mart to become an industry leader by means of the innovations which it has applied. In the convention which was held during April, 2014, Wal- Mart established itself as a global leader by its concern for distributing food to the inhabitants of the world in the future.

References

Ray, R. (2010). Supply management for retailing. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Ltd.

Wal- Mart Stores.(2014). Wal- Mart convenes key partners at first- ever sustainable product expo to accelerate supply chain innovation. Wal- Mart Stores, Inc., April 29, 2014.