wal-mart

1 Running Head: Walmart Supply Chain

Transportation

A. Evaluation

1. Constraints in the Transportation Network

Transportation networks of the Walmart Company are facing various constraints which

are adversely affecting the general supply chain operations. Cutting transportation costs has been

a major challenge, although the company is trying its best to come up with effective measures.

Some of the constraints that Walmart is facing in its transportation network include improper

technology strategies and implementation, environmental issues, government regulations, driver

shortage and retention, and high fuel costs. Fuel costs are among the many challenges that the

company is facing in its transportation network. Due to higher fuel prices, the transportation

costs for shipping in the company have increased. These constraints that the company is facing

have had a negative impact on its supply chain activities in several ways. They include

experiencing high transportation experiences, lack of savings in the packing cost, higher risks

of damage during transit, lack of flexible services, and inability to provide services to those

customers living in rural areas. Most of the transportation means that are used by the company

are complicated since they require packing processes of various products, which hinders savings

in packing costs. The damage of goods that are being supplied by Walmart has dramatically

increased due to poor transportation networks, which involve many activities of loading and

handling. Transportation constraints have also inhibited the company from providing flexible

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services such as door-to-door services since they are not able to reach those customers living in

rural areas.

2. Transportation Network

The Walmart Company is using the most powerful technique in supply chain

management known as cross-docking. Cross-docking involves the practices of logistics that the

business can load and unload for supply in a single place in a warehouse minus further handling

and storage without impacting the unloading and distribution functions of the company. This

strategy of supply chain management was first used by the united states trucking company, and

later Walmart incorporated it into its own supply chain (Benrqya, 2019). This is believed to be

the main practice that assisted Walmart to surpass its main competitor Kmart in the early 1980s.

Cross-docking has been considered to be the basic proficiency that has helped Walmart to

significantly decrease its cost of sales by almost three percent. The reduction of the company’s

cost of sales has enabled Walmart to provide the “everyday low price,” which is the slogan of the

company. In cross-docking, products are distributed and then stored in the warehouse as they

wait to be shipped when they are required by sale stores. The main functions that warehousing

performs include receiving, storage, order picking, and shipping, in which order picking and

storage usually cost the most. Walmart also incorporated the cross-docking approach into its

supply chain to reduce cost, which is also determined by the time that commodities remain in the

warehouse.

B. Recommendations

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In order to improve the transportation network that Walmart is using, the management

should take some steps to improve those transportation challenges. These steps include going

with the complete solution approach to meet the current and future needs of software and

implement support, improving the business process of end-to-end supply chain operations to

improve efficiency in transaction handling, and implementing diverse networks that will reduce

health-associated disruptions (Guze, 2017). Other steps that the company should take are

embracing predictive ordering and e-commerce platforms which will ensure that customers are

happy with their orders, having faster, smarter, and simpler systems to automate freight claims

management, having more sensors and internet of things tools to feed data automatically and

having self-optimizing systems and leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning

abilities in the supply chain.

Warehousing

A. Evaluation

1. Warehousing Infrastructure

Walmart Company has constructed a high-speed grocery warehouse to set its place as the

largest grocer in the country and even worldwide. This supply center moves commodities in and

out quicker than the other current warehouses. This warehouse has been furnished with

automation technology from Witron, which is a German supplier of logistics services. This center

is Walmart's newest investment that has been enhanced to advance its grocery business, and it

accounts for more than half of the United States' sales. The company has improved the provision

of quality foods, and it is increasing its curbside pickup and home delivery choices. Products in

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this warehouse are rapidly and efficiently loaded by robots which helps to capitalize on the

available space on trucks that drive off to Walmart stores (Xin, et al., 2017). Walmart Company

is also piloting devices that are unloading goods in store backrooms very fast and testing micro

fulfillment centers that automate the practice of picking online grocery orders.

2. Handling Hazardous Materials

There are various measures that can be followed to ensure that hazardous materials in the

warehouse are handled well. These measures include learning about emergency procedures and

equipment, keeping oneself and the warehouse clean, storing materials appropriately, and using

all materials mainly for the intended purposes. Other steps consist of making sure that all

containers are appropriately labeled, inspecting materials carefully to ensure they are safe, being

cautious and planning ahead and following all the established procedures, and performing duties

as trained (Holeczek, 2019). Understanding emergency techniques entail knowing certain

evacuation measures, emergency reporting procedures, and strategies for dealing with spills.

Labeling of containers appropriately will prevent the workers in the warehouse from using any

material that is not contained or labeled appropriately. Additionally, it is necessary to report any

damaged containers or illegible labels to the relevant authority. These hazardous materials have

adversely affected warehousing by presenting various risks such as environmental and

community risks, health hazards, explosions, and outbreaks of fire.

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Reference

Benrqya, Y. (2019). Costs and benefits of using cross-docking in the retail supply chain.

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management.

Guze, S. (2017). An application of the selected graph theory domination concepts to

transportation networks modelling. Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Morskiej w Szczecinie.

Holeczek, N. (2019). Hazardous materials truck transportation problems: A classification and

state of the art literature review. Transportation research part D: transport and

environment, 69, 305-328.

Xin, L., He, L., Bewli, J., Bowman, J., Feng, H., & Qin, Z. (2017). On the performance of

Tailored Base-Surge policies: theory and application at Walmart. com. Com (December

18, 2017).