Wal-Mart MIS

How information system are helping in the company(part1)

v RFID System:

Helps in keeping track of the goods for both Wal-Mart and the supplier and helps in saving time and effort and reducing the number of workers.

v Point-of-sale system (POS):

Helps in handling information efficiently and effective use of information which helps Wal-Mart avoid overstocking by learning what merchandise is selling slowly and also provides better inventory management.

v Telecommunications:

This allows automatic reordering and better coordination. Knowing exactly what is selling well and coordinating closely with suppliers permits Wal-Mart to tie up less money in inventory than many of their competitors. At its computerized warehouses, many goods arrive and leave without ever sitting on a shelf. Only10% of the floor space in Wal-Mart stores is used as an inventory area, compared to the 25% average for the industry.

Information system used in Wal-Mart(part1)

•     RFID System:   

104 Wal-Mart stores, the company has installed RFID readers at the receiving docks at the back of the building, near the trash compactors and between the back room and the retail floor.

o For the cases of goods that are shipped to the stores with RFID tags, Wal-Mart records their arrival by reading the tag on each case and then reads the tags again before the cases are brought out to the sales floor.

o      By using sales data from its existing point-of-sales system, which is not using RFID, Wal-Mart subtracts the number of cases of a particular item that are sold to customers from the number of cases brought out to the sales floor.

o When a case is brought out to the sales floor, the system      records that it's being put out on the shelves.

o      When the case is read at the trash compactor, the status within the system is changed to "on shelf."

o      Suppliers can get updates on the location of their goods within 30 minutes of the goods movement from one part of the store to another with a 98%read rate.