Operation Management Case Study 2022

Running head: OPERATION MANAGEMENT
Operation Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Type of Inventory used by Walmart and Apple:.............................................................................2
Walmart Corporation:..................................................................................................................2
Apple Inc:....................................................................................................................................3
Goods and Service Design Concept of Walmart and Apple:..........................................................3
Walmart:......................................................................................................................................3
Apple Inc:....................................................................................................................................3
Role of the Inventory:......................................................................................................................4
Walmart:......................................................................................................................................4
Apple:..........................................................................................................................................4
Layout Types of the Organization:..................................................................................................5
Walmart:......................................................................................................................................5
Apple:..........................................................................................................................................5
Evaluation of Supply Chain Performance:......................................................................................6
Walmart:......................................................................................................................................6
Apple:..........................................................................................................................................6
Improving Inventory Management:.................................................................................................6
Walmart:......................................................................................................................................6
Apple:..........................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................7
References:......................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction:
The inventory is the goods and materials that are possessed by the businesses for resale
purposes. In this aspect, the inventory management defines that it is a discipline which is related
with regarding specifying placement and shape of the stocked goods (Wild, 2017). Inventory
management also plays an important role to provide the organizations with a competitive
advantage as different organizations use different techniques to introduce the service and goods
to their customers (Muller, 2019). In this aspect, both of the Walmart Corporation and Apple Inc.
are two organizations that use the approach of inventory management for controlling their
products in the retail market. For this, they establish some unique relationship with the
customers. Thus, in the following section, the inventory management procedure used by both
Walmart Corporation and Apple Inc. is demonstrated.
Type of Inventory used by Walmart and Apple:
Walmart Corporation:
In the current aspect, Walmart utilizes cross-docking inventory management style so that
time required for transferring the products to the retail outlets can be minimised. In the cross-
docking technique, Walmart transfers the products from inbound trucks to outbound trucks and
in this way required extra storage is eliminated (Ladier & Alpan, 2016). By using this technique,
Walmart has successfully eliminated the secondary storage requirement. Still, in this case, there
is a requirement for the staging area where all types of movement will be done. Also, in this type
of inventory management system, Walmart needs to have an extensive number of fleet vehicles
so that the business environment can be managed properly. As Walmart has the capability of

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providing these required fleet vehicles, current inventory management approach of them is quite
perfect for them.
Apple Inc:
Currently, Apple uses just in time inventory technique for controlling and managing the
products. Apple has successfully established brand loyalty as they are having a meaningful
relationship with the customers. In this type of inventory management system, Apple provides
pre-order facility to the users where individual customers are able to express their interest in
purchasing a new Apple product before it becomes available in the market (Tanaka et al., 2018).
In this way, Apple is able to eliminate any type of dead stock, which will help them to increase
their revenue. Though it can be risky in some cases, extensive knowledge of Apple regarding
their customers is helping them to utilize this strategy.
Goods and Service Design Concept of Walmart and Apple:
Walmart:
In the current context, Walmart has the capability of lowering the production cost and can
transfer it to the consumer, which will be acting as a benefit for Walmart. Here, the cross-
docking technique used by Walmart is capable of eliminating the secondary storage costs, and
due to these reduced costs, Walmart was able to offer low-cost products which attracted more
customers (Nikolopoulou et al., 2017). This provided a competitive advantage to Walmart, which
helped them to increase their overall profits. Though in this sector, Walmart saved high amount
of costs, expenses were there for managing a long fleet of trucks.