Inventory Management Analysis: Walmart and Apple's Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the inventory management strategies employed by Walmart and Apple. It begins by identifying the types of inventory each company utilizes, with Walmart employing cross-docking and Apple using a just-in-time approach. The report then examines how each company's goods and service design concepts are integrated with their inventory strategies, highlighting Walmart's focus on cost reduction and Apple's emphasis on customer experience and brand loyalty. The role of inventory in each company's performance, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction is then evaluated. The report also compares and contrasts the layouts used by both companies. Furthermore, it identifies key metrics for evaluating supply chain performance, and suggests improvements for inventory management at both companies. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, emphasizing the importance of effective inventory management for overall business success.

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.

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Apple Inc:
Apple utilizes just in time inventory technique so that they can fulfil the growing needs of
the customers. While any organization uses this type of inventory management technique, it is
the responsibility of them to make the customer feel special (Chiu, Yang & Lin, 2017). In this
case, Apple has successfully created this environment where the customers feel special after
purchasing the Apple products. Apple is able to create this type of environment due to their
brand loyalty which improves more with a new product launch. Also, the iOS used by Apple has
provided them with a competitive advantage in the market, which is also useful for using the just
in time inventory management technique.
Role of the Inventory:
Walmart:
The main business of Walmart is providing a variety of products and goods to the
customer at an affordable price tag. To provide this affordable price, Walmart uses cross-docking
technique so that any type of storage costs can be eliminated. In this way, the current inventory
management technique of Walmart has helped to improve the performance of the retailer as they
are able to offer a variety of goods and products to the customers at lower price tag than the
market (Wang et al., 2018). Here, the operational efficiency has been also improved as no
operations need to be performed for managing a warehouse. Also, as the customers are getting
products at lower price tags, it leads towards customer satisfaction.
Apple:
Apple has become one of the successful smartphone manufacturers in the world as they
are constantly meeting the demand of their customers. Currently, Apple uses the just in time

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technique of inventory management due to which there is no dead stock for Apple in the market
(Emde, 2017). Due to this performance of Apple has been increased highly in the market. Also,
in this way, Apple is making the products available only when they are required, which is
helping to fulfil the financial requirement of the organization and improving operational
efficiency.
Layout Types of the Organization:
The four different types of layout that are used by the organizations are the fixed-position
layout, process layout, product layout and cellular layout. Both of the Walmart Corporation and
Apple Inc. uses these layout as per their requirement.
Walmart:
Process layout is one of these layouts that is used by Walmart. Process layout is
important for Walmart as they need to deal with the finished goods and products (Siemiatkowski
& Vargovská, 2019). The process layout helps the employees of Walmart to accomplish the tasks
within the business environment. By using the process layout option, Walmart solved the issue of
function execution from a central location where services are provided, and payment for the
goods are made.
Apple:
The cellular layout is used by Apple so that they can communicate with their customers
all around the world. Also, related to the cellular layout, Apple has also developed its
workstations where they have the potential to increase their visibility, promoting the products to
the targeted audience (Kumar & Singh, 2017). Here, the implementation of the cellular layout
has helped Apple to address the requirement of the customers. The product layout is also used by

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Apple, and it is implemented in their production line for manufacturing of the iPhones. By using
this layout, Apple prepares the products within the expected timeline provides them to the
targeted audience.
Evaluation of Supply Chain Performance:
There are several metrics which can be used for evaluating the supply chain performance
of the organization. Both of the Walmart Corporation and Apple Inc. can utilize these metrics for
the evaluation of supply chain performance.
Walmart:
The inventory days of supply is one of the important metrics that can be used by Walmart
for evaluating supply chain performance. Here, Walmart can use this metric to understand the
required amount of time, which will be needed before replenishing the actual supply (Nadarajan
et al., 2018). Here, from this evaluation, Walmart will be able to fulfil the expectation of the
customers by implementing the procedures through which fast-moving goods can be achieved,
and the demand can be maintained for all kind of products that Walmart offers.
Apple:
Apple can use the metric, customer order cycle time for performing the evaluation of
supply chain performance. Through this metric, Apple will be able to evaluate the time needed
by their agents for delivering products to the consumers (Zhao et al., 2018). This metric will also
provide the understanding of encountered challenges to the individuals in the intermediate
environment during delivering products to the consumers and how these problems can be
addressed. Through this, Apple can easily achieve their organizational objective.

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Improving Inventory Management:
Walmart:
In the current context, Walmart can utilize the inventory management tool for improving
inventory management. By using the inventory management tool, Walmart will be able to
evaluate the whole network, and from there, it can help to identify appropriate policy for
different services and products. Also, by using the inventory management tool, Walmart can
perform real-time analytics on organizational growth (Tarasova, Moskvicheva & Nikulina,
2019). This real-time analytics will help Walmart to monitor the supplies, and from there,
instances can be identified, which can lead to delays. In this way, operations of the organization
can be improved.
Apple:
In this aspect, Apple can use the data analytics for optimization of inventory
management. By using the data analytics organization will be able to analyse the inventory from
the organizational level. Here, data analytics utilize the real-time data for prediction of the
market demand (Khurana & Kumar, 2017). So, depending on that production can be scaled by
Apple, which will help to improve productivity more. Thus, data analytics will be beneficial for
Apple.
Conclusion:
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that appropriate inventory management is
important for organizations to improve the overall business process. In this report inventory of
two manufacturing organization has been compared, which are Walmart corporation and Apple
Inc. First, in this report, the types of inventories used by this organization have been evaluated.

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Also, how each of their goods and the service design concepts have been integrated is discussed.
The current role of inventory in performance, customer satisfaction and operational efficiency
has been evaluated for both Walmart and Apple. Different types of layout that have been found
in each of the organization has been evaluated. In the following section of this report, the supply
chain performance of these two organization has been evaluated using two important metrics. In
the further section of this report, the suggestion has been provided to improve the inventory
management for both Walmart and Apple.
References:
Chiu, Y., Yang, C. H., & Lin, P. C. (2017). A Just-in-Time Inventory Model with Preventive
Maintenance and Defect Rate. International Journal of Information Systems and Supply Chain
Management (IJISSCM), 10(4), 44-60.
Emde, S. (2017). Scheduling the replenishment of just-in-time supermarkets in assembly
plants. OR spectrum, 39(1), 321-345.
Khurana, M., & Kumar, D. (2017, December). The study of data analytics in inventory
management. In 2017 International Conference on Infocom Technologies and Unmanned
Systems (Trends and Future Directions)(ICTUS) (pp. 140-144). IEEE.
Kumar, R., & Singh, S. P. (2017). Designing robust stochastic bi-objective cellular layout in
manufacturing systems. International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 10(2),
147-164.
Ladier, A. L., & Alpan, G. (2016). Cross-docking operations: Current research versus industry
practice. Omega, 62, 145-162.

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Muller, M. (2019). Essentials of inventory management. HarperCollins Leadership.
Nadarajan, S., Chandren, S., Rahim, A., Irwan, M. K., Radzuan, K., & Mohd Nawi, M. N.
(2018). Examining inventory performance measured by days of supply. International Journal of
Supply Chain Management (IJSCM), 7(6), 114-117.
Nikolopoulou, A. I., Repoussis, P. P., Tarantilis, C. D., & Zachariadis, E. E. (2017). Moving
products between location pairs: Cross-docking versus direct-shipping. European Journal of
Operational Research, 256(3), 803-819.
Siemiatkowski, M. S., & Vargovská, M. (2019). Process layout planning and optimised product
range selection in manufacture of wooden construction sets. Maderas. Ciencia y
tecnología, 21(2), 171-184.
Tanaka, R., Ishigaki, A., Suzuki, T., Hamada, M., & Kawai, W. (2018, July). Shipping plan for
apparel products using shipping record and just-in-time inventory at a logistics warehouse.
In 2018 7th International Congress on Advanced Applied Informatics (IIAI-AAI) (pp. 682-687).
IEEE.
Tarasova, E. V., Moskvicheva, N. V., & Nikulina, E. N. (2019). Simulation-Based Improvement
in the Models for Tool-Inventory Management at Manufacturing Plants. Russian Engineering
Research, 39(2), 160-166.
Wang, Z., Lu, Y., Zhao, L., & Cao, N. (2018). Improved Harmony Search Algorithm for Truck
Scheduling Problem in Multiple-Door Cross-Docking Systems. Discrete Dynamics in Nature
and Society, 2018.
Wild, T. (2017). Best practice in inventory management. Routledge.

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Zhao, Y., Xu, X., Li, H., & Liu, Y. (2018). Stochastic customer order scheduling with setup
times to minimize expected cycle time. International Journal of Production Research, 56(7),
2684-2706.