沃尔玛的供应商，在指定的两天窗口内交付订单比例为87%，比之前的85％目标高出2％。

由杰夫·伯曼集团新闻编辑 · 2019年3月15日

根据华尔街日报最近的一份报告，零售业领头羊沃尔玛公司（Walmart Inc.）最近宣布，它正在缩短供应商合作伙伴的交付窗口时间，以满足门店的出货要求。报告称，这些变化的主要驱动因素是降低库存水平。

该报告指出，沃尔玛的供应商将运送满载卡车的产品，在指定的两天窗口内交付订单比率为87%，比之前的85％目标高出2％。并且它补充说，供应商填充卡车的一部分，他们的货物需要达到70％的准时门槛，这个门槛从50％上升，并且还改变了惩罚供应商的方式，这些供应商进行部分交货以确保产品能够当他们需要在那里时上架。

对于不符合公司准时，完全（OTIF）要求的每个案例的销售成本，此罚款将为3％的罚款。沃尔玛认为OTIF是一个关键组成部分，是实现降低库存水平目标的效率工作的一部分。

在最近的一次采访迈克·里根，为首席关系官TranzAct Technolgies，特雷西-罗瑟，前高级副总裁运输和供应链的沃尔玛，解释说，有不同角度来看待铁路运输组织的。

“对供应商来说，很容易看到并说'这可能会对我的业务造成负担'，”他说。“但他们有很大的机会增加销售额。想想一个OTIF业务管理得不好的世界。当我们开始关注这一点以了解我们的表现时，我们的基线大约为29％，因为所有进入沃尔玛的东西都占据了数十亿美元的库存。我认为没有人愿意以这种方式经营他们的业务。当我们达到29％时，我们在配送中心有一个为期四天的接收窗口或容差级别，当我们要求四个时，我们实际上接收了十天的商品。如果你真的很早，那商品就会直接进入商店。如果它迟到了，它增加了缺货的可能性很高。“

现在，随着供应商对48小时的交货窗口要求越来越严格，Rosser表示，导致沃尔玛的大部分出货量现在都处于较小的范围内，这导致沃尔玛的系统库存量更少，精度更高，公司能够计划库存流量明显更好。他说，沃尔玛的买家，供应商，仓库和运营商也能够更好地规划流程，因为他们有计划执行。

“商店的库存要少得多，”罗瑟说。“如果您是供应商，这意味着您的产品从卡车到货架的可能性要大得多，销售也会有所改善。我们有供应商在80年代和90年代的填充率。他们密切关注整个供应链，非常擅长与沃尔玛合作，并就他们看到差距以及如何变得更好进行对话。“

TranzAct的Regan表示，这种发展是他所谓的“效率跷跷板”的象征，其形式是遵守这些沃尔玛OTIF标准并降低库存水平，导致配送中心库存吞吐量的效率大幅提升。

“这就是我所看到的在整个交通领域的表现，效率的跷跷板基本上说是向上或向下，”里根解释说。“如果效率较低，那么成本会上升，但如果供应商效率低下，为什么[托运人]的成本会上升？零售商不想摆脱这些罚款，因为他们希望做得对。沃尔玛每天都会向供应商提供一天的服务。供应商继续需要作为公司进行调整，以应对未来的物流和运输预期。“ 

总部位于俄亥俄州哥伦布市的ZipL物流公司的联合创始人兼总裁安德鲁林奇表示，沃尔玛的举措可以被视为另外收紧CPG托运人已经采用的螺丝。

“但我不认为这对已经采取行动的供应商造成严重破坏，”他说。“如果供应商已经在努力满足合规要求，那么这只会在他们面前设置更高的障碍。我认为，这里最显着的变化是供应商绩效的清晰度，这应该改善在供应约束下如何运营的决策 - 如果托运人决定是否在短期内发货订单如果订单延迟了一天，托运人现在可以准确地确定硬币每一面的财务影响。“

更重要的是，林奇表示，正在发生的事情显然可以被视为新常态，因为零售商绝对不能允许缺货以他们在当今竞争激烈的零售环境中发生的速度发生。

“几乎每个国家的杂货店和零售连锁店都有一些版本的精品或记分卡来衡量履约绩效，并让供应商对准时交货负责，”他说。“与此同时，各个类别的新兴品牌和知名品牌的货架空间竞争太激烈，未能满足履约可能会导致品牌从零售商的品种中完全消失。一场绝对的灾难。来自零售商和行业竞争的压力正在使品牌进入未知领域，其中物流绩效是类别赢家和另一个同类竞争者之间的差异。这就是为什么我们如此重视在我们对客户的指导中保持物流和运输功能的控制，灵活性和可视性。“

关于作者

集团新闻编辑Jeff BermanJeff Berman是物流管理，现代物料搬运和供应链管理评审的集团新闻编辑。杰夫在缅因州的伊丽莎白港工作和生活，他每天都在供应链，物流，货物运输和材料处理领域的各个方面。

Retail bellwether Walmart Inc. recently announced it is upping the delivery stakes for its supplier partners, for supplier shipment requirements, that are set to take place in May, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report. A major driver for these changes is to lower inventory levels, according to the report.

The report stated that Walmart will have its suppliers that ship full trucks of products to deliver orders within a specified two-day window 87% of the time, which is 2% more than the previous target of 85%. And it added that suppliers filling part of a truck with their goods need to reach a 70% on-time threshold, which is up from 50%, as well as also change how it penalizes suppliers that make partial deliveries to make sure products make it to shelves when they need to be there.

This penalty will be in the form of a 3% fine for the cost of goods sold for each case that does not meet the company’s on-time, in full (OTIF) requirements. OTIF is viewed by Walmart as a critical component and part of the efficiency effort geared towards its goal of reducing inventory levels.

In a recent interview with Mike Regan, chief relationship officer for TranzAct Technolgies, Tracy Rosser, former SVP Transportation and Supply Chain for Walmart, explained that there are different vantage points to look at OTIF from.

“It is very easy [for a supplier] to look at it and say ‘this could be a burden on my business,’” he said. “But there is a huge opportunity for them to increase their sales. Think about a world in which OTIF business was not being managed very well. When we started looking at this to see how we were performing, our baseline was about 29% for all of the stuff coming into Walmart accounting for billions of dollars in inventory. I don’t think anyone would want to run their business that way. When we were at 29%, we had a four-day receiving window, or a tolerance level, into our distribution centers, and we were actually receiving merchandise across ten days, when we were asking for four. If you were really early, that merchandise went right into the store. If it was late, it increased the high likelihood of running out of stock.”

Now, with a tighter delivery window requirement for suppliers to 48 hours, Rosser said that led to Walmart getting most of its shipments now in that smaller range, which resulted in Walmart having far less inventory in its system and more precision, with the company able to plan the flow of inventory significantly better. And he said Walmart buyers, suppliers, warehouses, and carriers are also able to better plan processes, because they have a plan to execute against.

“There is far less inventory in the stores,” said Rosser. “If you are a supplier, that means the likelihood of your product making it from truck to shelf is significantly greater, and sales will improve. We have suppliers in the upper 80s and low 90s for fill rates. They have paid close attention to their total supply chain and are very good at collaborating with Walmart and are having conversations about where they see the gaps and how to get better.”

TranzAct’s Regan said that this development is emblematic of what he calls an “efficiency teeter totter,” in the form of adhering to these Walmart OTIF standards and reducing inventory levels results in a major bump in efficiency in distribution center inventory throughput.

“This is what I see being played out across the transportation spectrum, with the efficiency teeter totter basically saying up or down,” explained Regan. “If you are less efficient, then costs go up, but why should the [shippers’] costs go up, if a supplier is inefficient? Retailers are not wanting to get rid of these fines, because they want things done right. Walmart is giving suppliers a day on either side. Adjustments continue to need to be made as a company by suppliers to respond to future logistics and transportation expectations.” 

Andrew Lynch, co-founder and president of Zipline Logistics, a Columbus, Ohio-based 3PL focusing on retail and consumer products, said that Walmart’s moves can be viewed as another tightening of the screws that are already in place on CPG shippers.

“But I don’t see it being significantly disruptive to suppliers that already have their act together,” he said. “If a supplier is already struggling to meet compliance, then this just put a taller hurdle in front of them. I think the most significant change here is clarity around a supplier’s performance which should improve decision making on the ground around how to operate under a supply constraint – if the shipper has a decision to make whether to ship an order a few cases short vs. shipping the full order a day late, the shipper can now nail down exactly what the financial repercussions are of each side of the coin.”

What’s more, Lynch said what is happening can clearly be viewed as the new normal, as retailers absolutely cannot allow out-of-stocks to happen at the rate in which they are happening in today’s hyper-competitive retail environment.

“Almost every grocery and retail chain in the country has some version of fine or scorecard that measures fulfillment performance and holds suppliers accountable to on time delivery,” he said. “At the same time, there is so much competition for shelf space from both emerging and established brands in every category that failure to meet fulfillment can result in a brand being completely removed from a retailer’s assortment. An absolute disaster. The pressure coming from both the retailer and sector competition is putting brands in uncharted waters where logistics performance is the difference between being the category winner and just another also-ran. That is why we put so much emphasis on maintaining control, flexibility and visibility of logistics and transportation functions in our guidance to clients.”