RESEARCH ON AN ORGANIZATION

Research on an Organization

Research on an Organization

Company Summary

Woolworths incorporated in December 5, 1924 in Sydney's Imperial Arcade. It is from the one of the world's largest supermarkets. Across the globe, Woolworths had more than 1000 supermarkets and caters more than 13 million customers in Australia only.

Woolworths have many brands under it such as Safeway, DickSmith, BigW, Dan Murphy etc. and all these brands are still using an ancient stand alone AutostockR ordering system. This ordering system works with the simple mathematics formula stated below:

Order Qty = Forecast Sales + Target stock (at the end of the day) - Existing stock

Discussion

Woolworths have two warehouses in Victoria to store and supply the goods to its supermarkets. They are located in Mulgrave and Wodonga. The larger of the two is Mulgrave is the primary distribution centre for Woolworths. There are about 168 supermarkets in Melbourne which receive all the goods from this DC. Woolworths is facing complex logistics issues with the current ordering and ERP system and abrupt changes need to be made (Davis, 1993). 

Logistics gives companies the advantage of securing the supply chain, allowing them to transport the goods necessary to the proper location at the right time. An integrated logistics system reduces the costs of holding inventories; helps in providing better customer services and reduces capital investment. Another aspect which has vital importance in regard to logistics is the Inventory Management System. Woolworths itself takes care of its most of its transport system which include over 120 trucks in its fleet. The various operations performed by the fleet are: Loading the goods at the warehouse and deliver them to the store in and around Melbourne.Loading of empty pallets and crates at the store and take them back to the warehouse. In case of emergency delivery required for any store, Woolworths arranges a special ...