Tesco Supply Chain Management Practices Case Study Essay

Tesco Supply Chain Management Practices Case Study - Essay Example They were the authors of the book known as ‘The Machine that changed the world’ which was in charge of introducing the concepts of lean production for the Toyota Company (Indu & Gupta, 2004). The experts found out that the company indulged in many unnecessary handlings whereby there would be improvements along with reductions in the costs the company incurred. They additionally found out that there were longer lead times, poor availability of products along with locations of stores. The company in turn established a system for continuous replenishment, which enabled their products to have immediate replenishment (Womack & Jones, 2006). They have also been reducing their handling of goods while also streamlining their flows. They were able to accomplish this by using dollies on wheels, which replaced shelves. The dollies could be sent from the suppliers and into their delivery Lorries and taken back to the stores. They helped in reducing the companies need for handling th e products since their products were just being loaded at the end of the company’s production line and taken directly by wheels to their supermarkets (Ohno, 2005). This move helped the company in reducing their touch points for drinks by 150 locations along with the transit times. However, the multiple trips that were carried out resulted in higher costs for the company but these costs were covered by decreases in their inventory costs. The company also had agreements with other companies such as P&G, Unilever along with Coca Cola in order to alter their schedules for distribution (Womack & Jones, 2006). This in turn enabled them to reduce their lead times by fifteen days since the daily deliveries made through their wheeled pallets, which enabled the placement of their goods directly on the shelves of many of their outlets (Bicheno, 2008). The company’s holding of stock reduced greatly from over four to two weeks while their service levels also improved by over six pe rcent. The company’s use of lean production methods in the above aspects helped them see their profits jump from 16,452 million pounds in the year 1998 to 37,070 million pounds in the year 2005 making them the biggest grocery within the United Kingdom (Indu & Gupta, 2004). Due to the company’s use of lean production systems, they were able to reduce their storage locations from five to two, their order entry locations from six to just one and their service levels from 98.5% to 99.5%. They were additionally able to reduce their throughput times from twenty to just five days, which represented a 75% reduction in their total inventory (Womack & Jones, 2006). The Tesco Company initiated a ‘step change’ curriculum, which was used for identifying the processes in their supply chains that required transformations. This program helped the company in eliminating several of the unnecessary procedures that enabled them to save about two hundred and seventy million po unds in the years 2004 to 2005. The changes that were implemented under the program additionally helped in simplifying the operations in their stores while freeing up their employees so that they could more effectively attend to their customer’s needs (Ohno, 2005). The company introduced operations across docks that involved goods being loaded into one

Summary on the following 3 readings Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Summary on the following 3 readings - Assignment Example The speculation about the society of states that tends to shape the international law according to Wright explains the scene of theories of IR prior to 1914. The international law was the most vital of the reminiscences of theory of IR during that period (Wight 16) Secondly, Wright opines that theories of international relations are marked by not only paucity but rather with intellectual and moral poverty. Wright highlights the unique poverty pertaining the imposition of the autonomous state and the notion of progress. The imposition of sovereign state argument is explainable via the state explanation and jurisdiction. As such, the balance of power cannot be a precise tool due to its ambiguity. Wright further provides that such hegemonic thoughts developed in the 20th C as a result of theoretical vacuum. Nevertheless, the theories could not establish themselves due to the lack of feasible situations that could cause them to happen. As such, the three determining phenomena to the international system cannot be described by an international thought, rather through domestic viewpoints. He provides that the nature of theories of IR coupled with the intellectual and political roles performed by the IR schools of thought are very similar to the natu re of typical political theory. Of interest to the theorist is the recent bias to explicit theoretical reflection about IR being a definite measure of the importance of IR. As such, he provides the ultimate theoretical and political justification of the increased interest in IR. He argues that the threats stemming from the unresolved political challenges, people have come to think more in terms of a supranational community, a global government and political structures that culminate to the nation-state. Consequently, he provides an exemplary reflection of the political challenges whose solutions need functioning structures and