Wal-Mart has become a global leader in supply chain management through strategic investments and innovations over several decades. It was one of the first retailers to link stores and distribution centers through computer systems in the 1970s. Key developments include adopting RFID technology in 2004 to provide real-time sales data and reducing intermediaries in global sourcing by 2010. These supply chain strategies have supported Wal-Mart's incredible growth, allowing it to do $1 billion in business every 36 hours by 2001. Its efficient supply chain provides sustainable competitive advantages like lower costs and highly competitive pricing for consumers.

1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
“I don’t believe there is a university in the world that
doesn’t talk about Wal-Mart and the supply chain”
James Crowell, Director of the SCM Research
Center at the Walton
Source: Wal-Mart Used Technology to Become Supply Chain
Leader, Todd Traub on Monday, Jul. 2, College of Business
4/2/2014
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2. THE SUPPLY CHAIN LEADER
By Dayanzi Tamang
MBA II Semester (Fall), Kantipur Valley
College, Kumaripati, Nepal
4/2/2014
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3. CONTENTS
 Why know about Wal-Mart?
 Introduction
 Timeline of Wal-Mart’s SCM development trend
 Incredible growth!
 Some Supply Chain Strategies
 Benefits of Efficient Supply Chain Management
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4. WHY KNOW ABOUT WAL-MART?
 World's largest public corporation (Fortune Global
500 list 2014)
 Biggest private employer in the world (with over
two million employees), and
 Largest retailer in the world
4/2/2014
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5. INTRODUCTION
 American multinational retail corporation
 Founded by Sam Walton in 1962
 Over 11,000 stores in 27 countries, under 55
different names
 Believed to have one of the most efficient supply
chain
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6. TIMELINE OF WAL-MART’S SUPPLY CHAIN
DEVELOPMENT TRENDS
 1970: opened its first distribution center (DC)
 1975: leased IBM computer system to maintain
inventory control - first retailer to tie store and DC
together
 1992: deployed Retail Link system (It provides
vendors information on sale trends, inventory levels
and more)
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7. TIMELINE CONTD.
 2000: Lee Scott, who started Wal-mart career as a
dispatcher becomes CEO -sends message about
importance of logistics to it’s success.
 2004: announces RFID for top 100 suppliers
(displays real-time sales data from cash registers
and to Wal-Mart’s distribution centers)
 2010: announces a sweeping plan to reduce the
use of intermediaries in its global sourcing
processes
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9. INCREDIBLE GROWTH!!
 1993: $1 billion in business a week
 2001: $1 billion in business every 36 hours
Growth that was attributed much to
Supply Chain Management
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10. SOME SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES
Procurement
 Made trips to buying offices in New York
 Suppliers maintained offices close to it
 Source products globally
 Enormous power on supplier
 Dictated suppliers
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11. SOME SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES CONTD.
Distribution
 Significant investment for firm
 Low rent, suburban areas close to major highway
 6,600 trucks and 55,000 trailers
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12. SOME SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES CONTD.
 Cross-docked perishable items
 Trucks backhauled
 Non-unionized and in-house trucking employees
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13. SOME SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES CONTD.
Store Network
 Display of store-wide merchandise templates
 Associates free to alter templates
 Simply furnished, used standardized materials
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14. SOME SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES CONTD.
Information System
 Interested in gathering and analyzing information
 1996: attended IBM school to hire smartest person
to computerize operations
 1980s: invested in central database, store level
point-of-sale system and a satellite system
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15. SOME SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES CONTD.
 1990s: developed Retail Link, 2.5 petabytes in 2008
(second to Ebay 4), real time sales data
 Vendor Managed Inventories
 Radio-frequency Identification: saved US$ 500
Million a year using it
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16. SOME SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES CONTD.
Human Resource
 Motivation
 Saturday morning meetings: 7 am, discuss changes
implemented
 Improved communication among divisions
 Free from cumbersome labour agreements
 Non-unionized labour
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18. BENEFITS OF EFFICIENT SCM
Sustainable Competitive Advantages:
 lower product costs
 reduced inventory carrying costs
 improved in-store variety and selection, and
 highly competitive pricing for the consumer
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