Based on the article above, explain how inventory management can provide competitive advantage for Amazon.com!

Practical Management Science
6th Edition
ISBN:9781337406659
Author:WINSTON, Wayne L.
Publisher:WINSTON, Wayne L.
Chapter2: Introduction To Spreadsheet Modeling
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Based on the article above, explain how inventory management can provide competitive advantage for Amazon.com!
Inventory Management Provides
Competitive Advantage at Amazon.com
GLOBAL COMPANY PROFILE
Amazon.com
hen Jeff Bezos opened his revolutionary business in 1995, Amazon.com was intended
to be a "virtuar" retailer-no inventory, no warehouses, no overhead-just a bunch of
computers taking orders for books and authorizing others to fill them. Things clearly
didn't work out that way. Now, Amazon stocks millions of items of inventory, amid hundreds of
thousands of bins on shelves in over 150 warehouses around the world. Additionally, Amazon's
1. You order three items, and a computer in Seattle
takes charge. A computer assigns your order-a book,
a game, and a digital camera-to one of Amazon's
massive U.S. distribution centers.
3. Amazon's current system doubles the picking speed of manual operators and drops the error rate to
2. The "flow meister" at the distribution center
nearly zero.
receives your order. She determines which workers go
where to fill your order.
4. Your items are put into crates on moving belts. Each
item goes into a large yellow crate that contains many
customers' arders. When full, the crates ride a series of
conveyor belts that wind more than 10 miles through the
plant at a constant speed of 2.9 feet per second. The bar
code on each item is scanned 15 times, by machines and
by many of the 600 warkers. The goal is to reduce errors to
zero-retums are Very expensive.
Before
Ban Cawhrasipa USANwscom
Malyn Nawonno Gaeto ouma
Transcribed Image Text:Inventory Management Provides Competitive Advantage at Amazon.com GLOBAL COMPANY PROFILE Amazon.com hen Jeff Bezos opened his revolutionary business in 1995, Amazon.com was intended to be a "virtuar" retailer-no inventory, no warehouses, no overhead-just a bunch of computers taking orders for books and authorizing others to fill them. Things clearly didn't work out that way. Now, Amazon stocks millions of items of inventory, amid hundreds of thousands of bins on shelves in over 150 warehouses around the world. Additionally, Amazon's 1. You order three items, and a computer in Seattle takes charge. A computer assigns your order-a book, a game, and a digital camera-to one of Amazon's massive U.S. distribution centers. 3. Amazon's current system doubles the picking speed of manual operators and drops the error rate to 2. The "flow meister" at the distribution center nearly zero. receives your order. She determines which workers go where to fill your order. 4. Your items are put into crates on moving belts. Each item goes into a large yellow crate that contains many customers' arders. When full, the crates ride a series of conveyor belts that wind more than 10 miles through the plant at a constant speed of 2.9 feet per second. The bar code on each item is scanned 15 times, by machines and by many of the 600 warkers. The goal is to reduce errors to zero-retums are Very expensive. Before Ban Cawhrasipa USANwscom Malyn Nawonno Gaeto ouma
5. All three items converge in a chute
and then inside a box. All the crates
arrive at a central point where bar codes
are matched with oarder numbers to
determine who gets what. Your three
items end up in a 3-foot-wide chute-
one of several thousand-and are placed
into a comugated box with a new bar
code that identifies yaur order. Picking is
sequenced to reduce operator travel.
6. Any gifts you've chosen are
wrapped by hand. Amazon trains an
elite group of gift wrappers, each of
wham processes 30 packages an hour.
software is so good that
Amazon sells its ordar taking.
processing, and biling expertise
to others. It is estimated that
200 milion items are now aval-
able via the Amazon Web site.
Bezos expects the customer experience at Amazon to
and management. The time to receive, process, and position
be one that yields the lowest price, the fastest delivery, and
the stock in storage and to then accurately "pul" and pack-
an eror-free order fulfilment process so no other contact with
age an order requires a labor investment of less than 3 min-
Amazon is necessary. Exchanges and returns are very expensive. utes. And 70% of these orders are multiproduct orders. This
Managing this massive inventory precisely is the key for
underines the high benchmark that Amazon has achieved.
Amazon to be the world-cdlass leader in warehouse automation This is world-class performance.
When you place an order with Amazon
.com, you are doing business with
a company that obtains competitive
advantage through inventory management.
This Global Company Profile shows how
Amazon does it.
7. The box is packed, taped, weighed, and
labeled before leaving the warehouse in a
truck. A typicai plant is designed to ship as
many as 200,000 pieces a day. About 60% of
arders are shipped via the U.S. Postal Service;
nearly everything else goes through Lnited
Parcel Service.
8. Your order arrives at your doorstep. In 1 or
2 days, your order is delivered
Arin Siamatt/any
Transcribed Image Text:5. All three items converge in a chute and then inside a box. All the crates arrive at a central point where bar codes are matched with oarder numbers to determine who gets what. Your three items end up in a 3-foot-wide chute- one of several thousand-and are placed into a comugated box with a new bar code that identifies yaur order. Picking is sequenced to reduce operator travel. 6. Any gifts you've chosen are wrapped by hand. Amazon trains an elite group of gift wrappers, each of wham processes 30 packages an hour. software is so good that Amazon sells its ordar taking. processing, and biling expertise to others. It is estimated that 200 milion items are now aval- able via the Amazon Web site. Bezos expects the customer experience at Amazon to and management. The time to receive, process, and position be one that yields the lowest price, the fastest delivery, and the stock in storage and to then accurately "pul" and pack- an eror-free order fulfilment process so no other contact with age an order requires a labor investment of less than 3 min- Amazon is necessary. Exchanges and returns are very expensive. utes. And 70% of these orders are multiproduct orders. This Managing this massive inventory precisely is the key for underines the high benchmark that Amazon has achieved. Amazon to be the world-cdlass leader in warehouse automation This is world-class performance. When you place an order with Amazon .com, you are doing business with a company that obtains competitive advantage through inventory management. This Global Company Profile shows how Amazon does it. 7. The box is packed, taped, weighed, and labeled before leaving the warehouse in a truck. A typicai plant is designed to ship as many as 200,000 pieces a day. About 60% of arders are shipped via the U.S. Postal Service; nearly everything else goes through Lnited Parcel Service. 8. Your order arrives at your doorstep. In 1 or 2 days, your order is delivered Arin Siamatt/any
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