Improving Coles Supermarket Supply Chain: A Business Proposal

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Coles Supermarket's supply chain operations, focusing on its Melbourne outlet. The report examines the current supply chain structure, including the roles of suppliers, wholesalers, and the implementation of automated supply chain management. It highlights the transition to a direct-to-store logistics network and the use of robotic process automation. The analysis identifies three key weaknesses: inventory visibility control, demand forecasting issues, and lack of investment in new technologies. The report details the shortcomings in each area, such as manual inventory tracking, inaccurate demand forecasting due to faulty data management, and the absence of proper technology implementation. The report suggests improvements, emphasizing the need for a proper website for inventory tracking, accurate data management, and the adoption of advanced technologies to enhance transparency and accountability within the supply chain. References to relevant literature are also included.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT SUPPLY CHAIN/ESUPPLY CHAIN
Analysis of the current supply chain/eSupply chain
Name of the Student
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Author Note

1ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT SUPPLY CHAIN/ESUPPLY CHAIN
Analysis of the current supply chain/eSupply chain
Coles Supermarket in Melbourne is mostly concerned with the maintenance of a
supply chain which is done with the help of a systematic view of the suppliers and making
the products reach the retail store and then to the customers. The wholesaler acts as a middle
man who receives the raw materials are finished products from the suppliers and provide
them to the retail store. Coles has also implemented automated supply chain management
which has reduce the waste created through the supply chain saving about 400 million AUD
per year. The organization has been developing a direct-to-store logistics network as well,
which is a change in the supply chain within the organization. Previously, the products were
delivered to the Melbourne store directly by the suppliers with the help of a truck for
delivering the goods to the store. The changes that have been brought about in this particular
case were the Logistic strategy which would rely more on the distribution center (Rawling,
Johnstone and Nossar 2017). The, as the part of the strategy, the Coles Distribution Centre
was developed, which would have the goods delivered to the store by collecting from the
suppliers. Simply, the primary transport from the suppliers distributed the products to the
Coles Distribution Centre which then were transported to the retail store with the help of a
secondary transport system. The secondary transport system was paid by Coles Organisation
all together and the suppliers had no responsibility after the Coles distribution Store.
The automated processes were done with the help of robotic process automation with
the utilization of the KUKA robotic system where the automation continue the process
through 200 pallets per day (Keith 2012). The online supply chain portal ensures the best
quality product provided to the customers without compromising with any responsibilities of
the supply chain management or from the end of the suppliers. The procedure begins with the
selection of raw material, from the suppliers who would provide materials for manufacturing

2ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT SUPPLY CHAIN/ESUPPLY CHAIN
the final product. For the Melbourne store, in particular, the logistics and transportation
companies provide the services as a distributor, for which the end products reach the retail
shop and then to the customers.
With the help of the online supplier portal, the organization has developed its product
ranging and shelf allocation principles. They have provided the facilitation of supplier
business by also providing them with intellectual property rights, non-infringement of
supplier's intellectual property rights, information protection about the suppliers and also an
agreement to a commercial relationship.
Three (3) weakness in the supply chain of the Coles store
As per several reports, there are issues detected in the supply chain management of
Coles Supermarket in Melbourne store alone. The Melbourne outlet of Coles Supermarket are
suffering from several shortcomings that does not ensure the integrity and fairness of the
supply chain management of the organisation. Out of the detected disadvantages and
weaknesses of the supply chain management system in the Melbourne outlet of Coles
Supermarket, the following three would be discussed in details:
Inventory visibility control: One of the biggest shortcomings of the Melbourne
outlet for Coles is to identify the in hand inventory items and also the location of the
inventory at any given point of time. The system has a shortcomings of manual inventory
visibility, periodic inventory visibility and also perpetual individual inventory visibility. For
the supply chain inventory visibility, the organisation is not equipped enough to crack for
trace the incoming and outgoing inventory items on a line item level. It has shortcomings in
subletting the plans and also receiving alerts when the supply chain inventory is deviating
from the expected receiver and sender (Rawling, Johnstone and Nossar 2017). The
organisation is in need for focusing on the Melbourne facility department in handling the

3ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT SUPPLY CHAIN/ESUPPLY CHAIN
supply chain management for developing a proper and effective website that would have an
accurate count of the inventory product throughout the supply chain movement at any given
point of time. This is why the organisation of often fall short of having a proper insight on the
inventory to identify the best performing products.
Demand forecasting issues: The Coles Supermarket in Melbourne has a huge
problem in its distribution and supply chain management system for identifying the
operational activity to analyse the transaction data and historical sales for creating a reliable
forecast for driving the replenishment of inventories and the ordering activities from the
customers. The demand planning of the reliable process need to improve its accuracy for
revenue forecast and also align them to the levels of the inventory items to find the actual
demand of the customer and the proper insight to ensure reliable forecast that would enhance
the profitability for the organisation. There is no proper monitoring of the stock level, the
availability of forecasting data based on the historical sales are also often found to be faulty
in the Melbourne outlet because of the website not having a proper data management system.
The supply lead times are also impacted with incorrect forecasting based on the calculation of
faulty data. The inventory items and new introductory items into the inventory is also
calculated wrongly impacting on the stock control.
Investment in new technologies: According to all the problems that has been
identified in the above areas related to the supply chain management shortcomings for
Melbourne location of Coles Supermarkets, the most important factor that has led to all these
problems is the absence of a proper technology. The use of technology in supply chain
management has the potential of improving the system to have a better and enhance visibility
and accountability (Büyüközkan and Göçer 2018). The organisation is found love to be
implementing a better technology in the Melbourne area for bring about transparency into the
whole process. This is why the flow of product and flow of information throughout the

4ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT SUPPLY CHAIN/ESUPPLY CHAIN
supply chain is misinterpreted or not collected properly leading to further problems. The
implementation of a proper software system is required in the Melbourne area so that and
improvement of the supply chain management can bring in the necessary transparency into
the Melbourne outlet of Coles Supermarket.

5ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT SUPPLY CHAIN/ESUPPLY CHAIN
References
Büyüközkan, G. and Göçer, F., 2018. Digital Supply Chain: Literature review and a proposed
framework for future research. Computers in Industry, 97, pp.157-177.
Keith, S., 2012. Coles, Woolworths and the local. Locale: The Australasian-Pacific Journal
of Regional Food Studies, 2, pp.47-81.
Rawling, M., Johnstone, R. and Nossar, I., 2017. Compromising road transport supply chain
regulation: The abolition of the road safety remuneration tribunal. Sydney L. Rev., 39, p.303.