IT in logistics and supply chain management

Replenishment triggers Purchase Orders Reports & Analysis EDI with vendors

POS Management, Customer management and merchandise management including analysis at store level

Order fulfillment

CRM & Loyalty Sales

Goods receipt & warehousing Inventory management

Warehouse management, Inventory Management and replenishment processing in the warehouse

Pricing & bar-coding

POS-Point of Sale CRM-Customer Relationship management EDI Electronic data interface The above figure illustrates the Merchandise management cycle in a Vendors-ManufacturerRetail outlet cycle. The vendor IT systems are directly interfaced with the manufacturer/warehouse and retailer outlets. As the sales processes are carried out the goods sold are replenished through a automated IT systems. The inventory reorder level, critical level of stock holding are predefined in the Retail outlet inventory management system. Step1 Replenishment orders are triggered once the goods stock level reaches predefined limits. These triggers are routed to vendor systems which are directly connected through EDI system. Step2 The vendor dispatched the goods and fulfills the purchase order requirements. Step3 Goods are sent to the concerned warehouse and through warehouse management system the goods are assorted and stored in their respective locations. Warehouse management also helps in sorting out the goods, transportation routes, and cross-docking etc. Step 4 Through Inventory management the goods are sorted out further like fast, medium and slow moving items through A,B,C analysis and optimum inventory levels are maintained. Also the stock out parts and critical part requirements are monitored continuously. Step5 Next bar coding and pricing stickers are affixed on the respective items/parts/goods.

IT in logistics and supply chain management

Steps6. The required parts are dispatched to the respective retail outlets based on the purchase order requirements from the retail stores/outlets. Step7 Sales are done through POS (point of Sale) whereby the parts are billed by swiping the bar code through scanning machine and cash is collected. Customer loyalty cards are also swiped for capturing the purchase data of all customers and also to add loyalty points to the customers loyalty card account. Customers can redeem the accumulated loyalty points by means of free gifts or price reduction schemes which is decided by the manufacturers. All the customer data like Name, Age, Occupation, Address, Purchase pattern, spend and buying behavior etc can be captured and analyzed very easily through the IT system Report and Analysis Whole wealth of data can be generated within no time using IT systems. Some of the reports are as follows 1) Store wise monthly sales, fast moving goods and slow moving goods. 2) Inventory management reports 3) Seasonal sales fluctuation reports 4) Target Vs Actual Sales reports 5) Store wise stock out, fill rate reports 6) Warehouse stock out, fill rate reports 7) Profit /Loss reports 8) Store wise pilferage reports. 9) Best Vendor or Supplier report Hence IT systems play a vital role in Logistics and Supply chain Management.