Question

The objective of this assignment is to keep up with what is happening in the real-life with organization using operations management and thus becoming more competitive. You will be required to read business magazines and periodicals and identify a major use of OM by a company that has made it more productive and competitive. The details of the assignment are provided below. a) This is an individual assignment. b) Read recent business magazines and identify a company where a major use of operations management was made that made the company more productive and competitive. c) Prepare a brief report indicating name of the organization, how it has used OM, and what implications it had on the company, etc. d) Your grade will depend on its content, presentation, quality and comprehensiveness. Ideal length your paper should be 2-3 pages. The report should be prepared with 1.5 line spacing with 1” margin on all four sides. e) The report should have verifiable exact references from where you identified your materials. State the name of the magazine/periodicals, volume, issue, dates etc. In case of Internet resources, provide exact URL of the reference. f) It is important that you report only a RECENT development. News items older than one year may not be considered. g) State learning value from this assignment. State CLEARLY what you learned from this assignment.

Discipline: operations/supply chain management

Answer

Name of Student

Name of Professor

Management Paper

5 April 2016.

Operations Management: Wal-Mart Case Study

Contents

Introduction. 1

Inventory Management at Wal-Mart 1

Conclusion. 3

Learning Value. 3

Works Cited. 4

Introduction

Operations management is a field that deals with the designing and redesigning of the processes involved in the production of goods and services in order to create equilibrium between the input and output. Using Wal-Mart as a case study, this case study will explore how the company has used inventory planning and forecasting systems of supply chain management in achieving their desired goals and objectives. It explains how operations management has been used to make it more productive and competitive. Lastly, it will lay conclusions that can be drawn from Walmart’s efforts in addition to the case study’s learning value.

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Inventory Management at Wal-Mart

Inventory management is a purchasing strategy that deals with the overseeing of the process of ordering and acquiring the raw materials required to produce goods and services in order to ensure the production of quality goods and services that are available on demand. Walmart is one of the leading U.S. companies that have been in the news of late due to their excellence in the maintenance of traditional supply chain management approaches in addition to the adoption of new operations management strategies (Robinson). It uses various elements including point-of-sale data, warehouse inventory, and real-time sales in efforts to maintain a system of information transfer through a centralized database. The data that is collected through the mentioned process is then forwarded to the suppliers whose job is to decide when it is convenient enough to ship more products, thus reducing the distribution costs.

In August 2015 the Walmart chief executive Greg Foran, announced that the company had decided to reorient its inventory management strategy by moving its inventory to various distribution centers instead of keeping them in the company’s backroom store (Chao). Foran added that switching to this strategy would ensure that products are always readily available to customers (Chao). Consequently, Walmart saw a 2.2% increase in inventory as compared to 2014, and at the same time created extra space in the backrooms leading to more employee efficiency (Chao).

While implementing these changes, Walmart simultaneously retained its approach to forecasting, which refers to the making of educated predictions regarding the future demand and objectives in terms of changes in the prices of goods and services. These efforts have greatly contributed to Walmart’s emergence as the most successful companies in terms of the adoption of supply chain management (Rivera). These forecasts can be made weeks or even months in advance. The company continues to compare forecasts with inventory levels to make sure that the warehouses have adequate inventory to meet demand. Forecasting is a very important feature of supply management systems as it gives the company an idea of the raw materials and output required to meet demand.

Conclusion

Walmart has a long history of using operations management to manage the different department and the different stores that it has all over. It also uses supply chain management systems to bring about the lowering of the costs incurred during production and inventory, time saving lower consumer prices. Its decision in August 2015 to change its inventory management strategy by moving its inventory to various distribution centers instead of keeping them in the company’s backroom store was a continuation of these efforts. For companies to be successful they should employ new operations management strategies to reflect changing business realities.

Learning Value

While conducting research for this case study, I came across numerous concepts that are the backbone of operations management, some of which include operations and productivity, operation strategy in a global environment, design of goods and services, project management, process strategy, and total quality management. Others include layout strategy, location strategy, aggregate planning, Enterprise Recourse Planning, and short-term scheduling. Most importantly, I learned that inventory planning and forecasting are integral components of business success. All these concepts are vital for the success of an operations management strategy that is implemented in any company. They can be used independently or in an interdependent manner in order to bring about more accurate and effective decisions.

I have also discovered that most highly-valued companies use operations management to ensure that equilibrium between output and input is maintained at all times. Examples of these companies include Dell Computers, Ford Motor Company, Coca Cola, and Amazon. Consequently, the knowledge that I have acquired while writing this case study will go a long way in shaping my perspective on the application of operations management concepts to real-life business situations.

Works Cited

Chao, Loretta. “Wal-Mart Reins Back Inventory in a Revamped Supply Chain.” The Wall Street Journal, August 18, 2015, http://www.wsj.com/articles/wal-mart-reins-back-inventory-in-a-revamped-supply-chain-1439933834

Rivera, Janessa. “Gartner Announces Rankings of Its 2015 Supply Chain Top 25.” Gartner, May 14, 2015, http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3053118

Robinson, Adam. “Walmart: 3 Keys to Successful Supply Chain Management Any Business Can Follow.” Cerasis, May 13, 2015, http://cerasis.com/2015/05/13/supply-chain-management/