There has long been debate in Supply/Demand Chain planning regarding the best and most economical method of deploying strategic and tactical inventory to achieve the highest possible Customer fulfilment.
Some businesses have opted for fully stocked Regional Distribution Centres, others have recognised the value of National/Regional Distribution Centres and yet others have opted to follow the National Distribution and Regional Consolidation Centres model.
Of course, the solution favoured by a particular business is dependent on a number of business factors, but in all cases the primary objective is to achieve best possible customer satisfaction whilst optimising the efficiency, and therefore cost, of the supply/demand chain.
Inventory strategy versus customer fulfilment
Procurement professionals combat daily the challenging task of what inventory should be held in order to achieve optimisation in the supply chain. At the same time, more and more retailers are using targeted campaigns of product specialisation to address regional variations in market tastes and demands. Storage is a finite resource, after all there is no such thing as a warehouse with rubber walls. Inventory placement can be tricky with restricted space availability.
So it comes down to some simple questions:
- Where can inventory be located?
- Is this the best place for that inventory?
- Is it the only place for the inventory?
- How do I track inventory in the Business2Customer and Business2Business chains?
- How do I ensure and monitor fulfilment performance?
In the distributed logistics model you need AquiTec’s SCM trans-shipment functionality to manage the movement of goods through distributed centres, to the customer.
DC Connectivity
Our SCM products enable full visibility of the flow of containers from an originating facility, through a trunk facility to a delivery facility and onwards to the customer. Connectivity between warehouse and trans-shipment facility is achieved through visibility, and the use of RF in real time.
No longer will you be searching for business critical information about order fulfillment timing or guessing whether an order was loaded to a particular vehicle for onward delivery. AquiTec’s systems will provide you with the right information at the right time. Today it’s not just the right product that needs to be in the right place at the right time. Modern business processes demand it has happened.
Closing the Loop
Couple the visibility of the orders flowing through your distributed supply chain with our Asset Tracking capabilities and you close the visibility loop completely. AquiTec’s customers maximise the benefit from supply chain visibility and demonstrable payback through closed loop asset control. |
UK and EMEA [
