Target Corporation Case Study

Register to read the introduction… Their staff would manually input shipments into its proprietary vendor management system which would notify its transportation management system for consolidation and optimization. Target was in fact making transportation decisions with very limited visibility to the shipments. This led to an excessive number of costly less than truckload moves. The company was unable to continue operating in this manner as the business continued to experience growth. Target was exploring ways to improve its load factors, reduce data entry requirements and errors, optimize routing decisions, and disseminate more timely shipment status information to everyone in its supply …show more content…
Target wanted to capitalize on novel Internet-based technologies that would capitulate a more efficient way to manage the inbound transportation activities. The partnership with NTE leveraged a technology-based solution that could use the retailer’s accessible operations and infrastructure. This included the TMS system, and using NTE OMS as its core service. Target therefore linked all of its trading partners into a centralized confidential trading community for automated transactions, timely communications and status reports, and efficient transportation management. Many of Target vendors submit ready to ship freight information at the individual order level electronically to Target. It can then more easily and efficiently merge and optimize shipments into its regional distribution centers. The private community was launched in January …show more content…
Wal-Mart however has found great success with implementing that system and is currently taking it a step further with using it to track men’s pants. Their current system appears as though it focuses more heavily on the suppliers. Furthermore, Target has automated and expanded its distribution facilities and requires vendors to prepackage their products or ship them “store-ready.” Requiring suppliers to ship orders directly to specific stores is a frequent practice amongst their suppliers. This ultimately can be a good thing allowing management to focus on other high caliber projects however; it does leave room for error. The process can be further streamlined to provide maximum efficiency. I am curious to know what happens when a supplier fails to ship their products other than the price penalty that they place on the