KIT710 eLogistics Assignment 1: Supply Chain Analysis of William Store

This report provides a detailed analysis of the supply chain of William Store, a small-to-medium business in Tasmania. It examines the impact of supply chains, logistics, and information technology on the business, highlighting how these factors affect customer service, operating costs, and financial performance. The report also delves into how William Store manages its inventory, including forecasting and inventory control techniques, and discusses instances of poor inventory management and their consequences. Furthermore, it explores the barriers and motivators the business faces in utilizing e-logistics for improved inventory management, providing insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with adopting new technologies and strategies. The analysis covers various aspects of supply chain management, providing a comprehensive overview of the business's operations and recommendations for improvement.

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Dealing with various Aspects of Chain Supply
By (Name)
Name of the Course
Title of the Instructor
Institutional Affiliation
City and Date
The final date of Submission

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Analysis of William Store that is Located in Tasmania
Introduction
William store is known to have gained popularity over a wide range of individuals; this is
as a result of the quality service that the store has been able to offer for the past years.
Moreover, this store is adequately managed by a group of individuals who are well
trained in various sectors and perhaps this is one of the best strategies that has enabled the store
to be able to implement quite a number of parameters within its boundaries of operations in order
to meet the needs of the customers who are known to be located in various locations (Manuj and
Mentzer 2016). Additionally, the store is made up of different departments who are known to
have the capability of playing different roles thereby making it easy for the organization to attain
quite several future goals in real time. It is also governed by a set of rules that are capable of
controlling quite a number of issues within the boundaries of operations that are adequately
attached to the organization (Barneym 2012) It is a store that is known to be dealing with a
variety of products and services within the boundaries of Tasmania thus making it much easier to
serve all the needs of the customers without discriminating them in relation to their age gender or
even background. Within the market platform, William store has been able to provide high levels
of competition to several other businesses most also the ones that are known to have the
capability of offering almost the same products and services. As a result of this stiff competition,
the store has been able to gain a wide variety of customers who have been impressed with the
quality products that they have been receiving.
Moreover, the business has been able to implement quite several strategies involving
supply chain, logistics together with quite several modern technologies. This mainly aims

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towards scaling up a good number of its operations in various locations most so at the regional
and national level.
How the business is currently impacted by supply chains, logistics together with
information technology
These parameters have been able to affect differently on the entire organization thus
being ready to go as far as determining a good number of its future operations. The supply chain
has been able to bring on board quite several positive impacts to the entire store with the major
one being a boost in terms of the level of customer service being offered (Hunt and Davis 2016).
In most occasions, customers usually expect the correct assortment of products to be done to
them; William store has been able to take advantage of this situation in terms of delivering the
products from the store in large quantity to be able to sustain the demand that is available within
the market platform. Moreover, supply chains have adequately boosted customer service within
William store since all the customers have been able to gain access to a variety of the products at
the right location without facing any difficulties (Cooper and Ellram 2015).
Moreover, as a result of the supply chain, the entire business has been able to reduce its
operating costs. This has been experienced through a decrease in terms of the purchasing costs
where the whole store has been on the forefront to entirely depend on quite a number of supply
chain strategies for the delivery of expensive products in order to avoid holding various types of
costly inventories any longer than the required period (Mangan, Lalwani and Lalwani 2016).
Moreover, a decrease in total supply chain cost has also been encountered where the entire store
has been able to entirely depend on supply chain managers to appropriately design various types
of networks that are capable of meeting quite a number of customer service goals at the lease

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total cost ever thus providing a humble opportunity to attain a right amount of objectives within
the stipulated time frame. On the other hand, supply chains have been able to scale up the
financial position of William store. This scaling up has been experienced through an increase in
terms of profit leverage within the organization. The entire store has been able to value the
performance of its supply chain manager since the manager adequately helps in controlling and
reducing quite a several issues associated with supply chain costs (Ellram 2016). Improved
financial conditions have brought about a decreased rate in terms of the available fixed assets,
the supply chain manager of William store has been able to reduce the use of various forms of
fixed assets which generally include things like warehouses together with the vehicles that are
usually being used in the supply chain.
On the other hand, issues about logistics have also impacted on the entire business to
some extent thus changing the way various operations are being done to meet the needs of the
customers. Through different conditions involving logistics, the company has been able to
increase its visibility conditions through the implementation of various parameters together with
systems that have been able to help the entire organization to avoid quite several reactive cycles
of planning that entirely depend on out of date type of information. Moreover, through Logistics,
William store has been able to develop real-time planning workforce thus giving the entire
organization one of the best opportunities to plan how various operations need to be conducted to
meet the needs of all the customers without any delays being experienced. The emergence of
integrated planning channel has been able to emerge within the store as a result of issues
associated with logistics thus making it easier to adequately evaluate and plan for quite several
future activities that are likely to emerge after certain operations are conducted.

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On the other hand, information technology to has dramatically impacted on various
sectors within William store. With the introduction of computer technology, the business world
has changed in terms of how various issues are handled (Nocco and Stulz 2016). Through the use
of computers and software, William store has been able to adequately implement the use of
information technology to ensure that all the departments within the organization can operate
smoothly without any problem being encountered (Bechtel and Jayaram 2016). The method of
information technology within this organization has been implemented in quite several
departments with the major ones being human resource, finance, and even the security
department. Through the use of information technology, William store has been able to develop
the ability to view quite several changes being encountered in the global market in a much faster
situation than it used to do earlier on. Moreover, the top management officials have been able to
purchase quite several software packages together with hardware that has ended up helping them
to get most of the jobs done in real time (Håkansson and Persson 2016). One interesting thing
about this store is that it has its department of information technology that is appropriately
designed for a specific purpose of up keeping all the software and hardware for them to
appropriately match the current trends within the market platform (Priem and Swink 2012).
How the business is currently managing its inventory
Appropriate management of inventory is essential for every business; William store is presently
managing its inventory through the use of quite several techniques to meet the desired outcome
in real time (Wang 2016). Firstly, the business is currently operating its stock through an
adequate fine-tuning of its forecasting; it has been able to realize that an accurate prediction is an
essential parameter. Due to this, all the projected sales calculations that are attached to the
organization have been able to strongly rely on quite a several factors which include things like

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promotions, market trends and even the nature of the economic market. Moreover, the top
management officials who run the store have been able to identify low turn stock with the
organization to make sure that whatever is present in stock is capable of adequately matching
what the management thinks is available. The business has been able to implement quite a
number of techniques with the major one being an annual, year-end psychical type of inventory
that has been able to accurately count every single item together with quite a number of ongoing
spot checking specifically the ones that tend to be most useful for those products that usually
move faster.
Incidences that the business has encountered poor inventory management together with its
impact
William store has encountered quite several incidences that are attached to poor inventory
management. The first incidence is the inability of various parameters to balance appropriately
according to the data provided within the organization; this incidence usually occurs when
multiple operations related to inventory management are not adequately addressed as far as the
activities within the organization are concerned (Pettit, Fiksel and Croxton 2016). This,
therefore, make it challenging to track quite several goods within the organization most so the
ones that are known to be going to various destinations where the customers are situated thereby
bringing a significant loss to the whole organization. On the other hand, as a result of reduced
inventory management, at some point, the store has been able to realize that it has too much
stock on hand. This has therefore led to the emergence of severe impacts by bringing on board
quite a several conditions like the emergence of sheer waste that makes the whole store not to
perform better according to what is expected of it.

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Various types of barriers and motivators that are present within the business for using logistics
for improved inventory management
There are quite several barriers that are known to be attached to the company most so when it
comes to the use of e logistics. One of the significant obstacles is lack of appropriate personnel
who will be able to implement and even operate various aspects or parameters that deals with E
logistics. This further leads to the scaling down of different inventor related conditions thus
making it much difficult to attain specific objectives in real time (Christopher and Towill 2016).
On the other hand, the second barrier is lack of awareness among various personalities on how e
logistics can be used to attain specific goals aimed towards building a reputation for the
organization (LaLonde and Pohlen 2017). This lack of awareness enables people most so the
employees together with the customers not to have an adequate understanding of what is taking
place thus minimizing any conditions that are associated with improved inventory management.
As far as the motivators are concerned, there are quite a number of technological inventions
that can fully support various issues pertaining to e logistics, through this support, there is a
higher probability of scaling up multiple operations associated with inventory management since
the technological inventions will be able to make work more accessible in terms of how various
services are handled (Golicic and Smith 2013). Another motivator is the availability of
employees who are readily available and are willing to learn how to implement and manage
various issues about e logistics (Christopher and Ryals 2016). Through this, it will be much
easier to come up with a well-trained group of individuals who are well versed with some of the
things that should be done to attain a specific outcome to make sure that the inventory
management is taken to the next level. It is true beyond any reasonable doubt that these
motivators have the capability of bringing on board quite a several real issues that will be able to

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benefit both the organization together with the entire customer fraternity. The leaders of William
store have therefore given all these motivators the priority to ensure that they are capable of
gaining what they want as far as customer satisfaction issue are concerned thus moving forward
appropriately without encountering many barrier related conditions. Moreover, the organization
is also looking forward to coming up with some of the best strategies that can be used to
eliminate the possible barriers.
Appropriate features in a logistics approach for better inventory management
There are quite several features that are known to be existing within an e logistics approach.
These features are capable of coming up with better inventory management techniques that will
help the entire organization to achieve what is required. Firstly, e logistics appears to be internet
enabled kind of value chain with adequate parameters that are capable of offering appropriate
logistic services which generally include things like contract warehousing together with various
aspects of distribution management (Krause, Vachon and Klassen 2016). Moreover, it is known
to be consisting of four different components which majorly include; one-stop value-added form
forms of services, automation techniques being carried out in warehousing networks, various
aspects dealing with transportation networks together with information management. The one-
stop value-added services are one major feature that aims towards providing an adequate form of
improved customer service satisfaction across all types of customers irrespective of the areas
where they are situated (Croxton et al. 2016).
On the other hand, information management as a feature of an e logistics involves the use of
quite several platforms where information is adequately exchanged through the use of various
electronic parameters to come up with the desired outcome (Van der Vorst, Van Dijk and

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Beulens 2016). On the other hand, multiple aspects of automation warehousing operation are
known to have the capability of adequately reducing various elements of human involvement
most so when it comes to the updating of quite several consolidation conditions. Finally, there is
a transportation network as the last feature that is attached to e logistics (Goldsby, Griffis and
Roath 2016). It is a feature that helps to scale up flexibility and at the same time developing
various strategies on how to reduce the transportation costs and ensure that a good number of
operations are carried out adequately and reliably.
Advantages and disadvantages associated with the e logistics approach over the existing
approach to the entire inventory management
There are various advantages of the e logistics approach over the real kind of attitude; these
advantages have made it easier to carry out multiple operations in real time by ensuring that the
right path is always followed without making any assumptions (Boddy, Macbeth and Wagner
201). One of the significant advantages that is attached to the proposed e logistics approach over
the existing plan is that e logistics has the capability of adequately tracking stock location
associated with William store thus minimizing any chances of confusion that might occur
(Simatupang and Sridharan 2016). Moreover, e logistics has got the capability of providing
better picking functionality thereby making it easier to carry out certain operations without any
difficulties (Williamson 2018). At the same time, it adequately allows the segregation of various
types of stocks that are available within the warehouse of the store thereby increasing chances of
proper delivery of goods within the recommended time without any delays subjected to the
customers.

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As far as the disadvantages associated with e logistics are concerned, it is clear beyond any
reasonable doubt that it is capable of experiencing high levels of increased master data
maintenance that may end up causing delays in terms of supply of various products to different
destinations where the customers are located. Also, it has some form of additional process steps
that deals much with receipt and picking thus causing a lot of threats compared to the existing
approach to the entire inventory management (Jones and Riley 2016). It is a parameter that only
requires the knowledge of a specific expert who will be able to configure various issues with the
intention to attaining a maximum benefit. At some point, it appears to be more complicated when
solving multiple problems that generally emerge as a result of incorrect processing of various
goods. Despite all the mentioned disadvantages, e logistics still stands a chance to come up with
one of the best results that are geared towards scaling up quite several operations within the
whole organization (Lusch 2016). At the same time, it acts as a motivating factor to the entire top
management team where it provides an appropriate and reliable guideline of what should be done
together with the exact things that should be avoided to minimize the occurrence of any
controversies as far as the operations are concerned.
Challenges of implementing e logistics approach to inventory management
A good number of problems exist when it comes to implementing various aspects of e logistics
approach to inventory management. These challenges have ended up creating severe issues that
have made it difficult to attain specific goals within the stipulated time frame (Cachon and Fisher
2016). One of the significant challenges of implementing e logistics is the presence of non-
effective forms of technology that are associated with the implementation of inventory
management. William store entirely depends on various types of techniques to run their e

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logistics thereby the failures that tend to emerge are capable of negatively affecting the entire
organization in terms of how it operates (Pagell and Wu 2016).
On the other hand, another challenge is lack of adequate knowledge on how to carry out various
operations within the e logistics systems; this has even gone as far as creating conditions of the
doubt when implementing multiple issues that are dealing with logistics. Moreover, there is the
manipulation of data from other external sources thus making the entire inventory management
to be negatively affected at some point most so when it comes to dealing with various types of
goods and how they are distributed to multiple locations. This manipulation of data within the e
logistics systems appears to be the major challenge and threat at the same time since it is usually
carried out with individuals who are unknown and is capable of even going as far as tarnishing
the reputation of the entire organization (Rogers et al. 2016). A good number of the challenges
associated with logistics usually come about as a result of failure to implement specific strategies
to come up with some of the best operation techniques. Once these strategies are appropriately
put into place, there will be minimal chances of these challenges occurring.
The impacts that e logistics approach to inventory management will bring to the business and the
remaining part of its supply chain
E logistics approach to inventory management has been able to carry on board quite several real
issues that are attached to value relations to the entire business together with its supply chain
department. This has taken place through adequate and reliable training of every employee,
implementation of regular training workshops has been able to keep all the employees updated
will all the latest trends that are known to be taking place in the logistics and chain supply sectors
in the organization. Moreover, e logistics approach to inventory management in William store

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has led to the emergence of appropriate warehouse management where most of the operations
have been able to appear dependent on the type of available goods. At the same time, there has
been maximization in the storage capacity in terms of where the products are stored. Efficient
transportation has also been brought about as a result of e logistics approach thereby providing
an easy time to the entire business for the transportation of various goods and services to
multiple locations without experiencing any forms of delay along the way. Finally, e logistics has
enabled the use of adequate measures to be carried out within the boundaries of William store.
Usually, the optimization network of e logistics is always incomplete without any form of
integrating measurement or even analysis. Through an adequate deployment of new strategies in
the organization's system, there has been the need to measure the output to come up with
accurate and reliable results. This is a condition that has been great eve to the supply chain
department since it has the capability of predicting success or failure.
Conclusion
It is therefore clear beyond any reasonable doubt that William store is determined towards
meeting the needs of all the customers to ensure that the whole business keeps on going. To meet
the demands required by the customers, the entire store has been on the fore from to implement s
good number of strategies that have enabled it to gain popularity across large regions and even to
build itself a positive reputation that can still be recognized even in the coming future. Moreover,
the top management officials have also been working closely with the employees to determine
some of the areas when the strengths of the organization lie so that such efforts can be directed
toward that organization. It is an organization that is also concerned with the implementation of
quite a several ethical considerations that are capable of creating boundaries when it comes to
dealing with various issues. The ability of the organization to implement ethical considerations