My current employer, Target, uses a unified inventory management system. In its original inventory management system, each store would receive crates of products on order. Each product would be replaced with a whole crate irrespective of the actual need at the store. With each of the stores making its product orders, there were many unaccounted losses in the sourcing and providing different orders.
Under the new management system, the company uses a unified tote supply system where each store is replenished according to the available product vacancy. Further, the inventory management system seeks to cut down on shipping costs by using a digital fulfillment process that operates from the company’s distribution centers. The company has distribution centers where each store is supplied from.
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Target operates well over 2000 retail stores that are supplied and sourced by multiple international vendors. The products are supplied to the stores through 22 regional distribution blocks and enter the United States. The imports are routed through distribution centers located on the West Coast before their supply to the distribution centers for products that are sourced from abroad. Further, international sourcing is managed through automated inventory management systems managed by external contractors through supply chain consultants. Further, the company’s international sourcing is automated to allow for timely delivery of orders and the general provision of the right quantities when needed. The system ensures that each of the stores only received the product mix that matches their needs and the specifications of the sales units that management requests. They, thus, receive products in customized deliveries from the distribution centers.
Target’s inventory and supply chain management systems have evolved from the manual systems individually managed by the stores to a unified electronic model that operates through distribution centers centrally managed by the company. This way, the company can operate centrally to minimize costs and losses associated with its products' sourcing and distribution.
