Wegman's Distribution System
Wegman's Distribution System
Introduction
Wegmans supermarket chain has been cited as a leader in the supply chain management in the grocery industry. Wegmans operates a number of warehouses that are used to supply its stores. Some warehouses stock grocery items, while some others stock frozen foods and still others stock bakery products.
Distribution
Individual store orders are generated on a daily basis. The warehouse downloads the order to its information system and order fulfillment begins. Various methods are used to replenish stores inventories.
Several of these avoid the need for warehouse storage saving the company storage and handling costs. The methods are:
Cross dock Cross distribution Vendor-managed inventory
Warehouse replenishment items are handled as full pallets or broken down into cases depending on the quantities ordered
Block pick Case pick
Incoming orders are checked against incoming shipments of stocks to determine the items that can be shipped by cross docking or cross distribution.
Warehoused items
The retrieval system of warehoused items is semi-automated and requires only a few workers. Warehoused items are classified based on their packaging and volume into
Conveyor items Non-conveyor items
Information system
Receiving an order
Conveyor items
Scanning
Forecasting
In 2002, Wegmans implemented its program of consistent low pricing. This program had the following advantages
Reduced the number of promotional and sale items. Reduced the volatility in demand to a large extent. Made forecasting and inventory planning easier.
New approaches
In 2003, Wegmans began exploring the use of auto-ID tags. The tags are very small micro-chips similar to bar codes. The tags offer a greater potential for supply chain management.