Running a business’s supply chain is a tough task; however, running a supply chain during one of the world’s largest events, the Olympics, is even bigger. The general verdict is the London 2012 logistics plan was a success.
How did companies cope with increased congestion and irregular route closures? Retailers used 4 main strategies to overcome these barriers: Re-route, Re-time, Reduce, and Revise. Re-routing involved avoiding heavily congested areas by using alternate depots and routes. Re-timing meant increasing after hours and nighttime deliveries. Reducing involved using fewer shipments, mainly through multiple retailers sharing shipments. Finally, revising meant using alternate forms of transit, such as river, foot, and bicycle, to access difficult areas.
In my opinion, the Olympics reinforces the same supply chain lessons learned from Dell and Zara. Flexibility is paramount to successful supply chains because it avoids depending on error prone demand forecasts; keeping open, responsive communication and information channels allows retailers to cope with dynamic situations, which Zara exemplifies. Furthermore, virtually integrated networks, widely used by Dell, and co-operation between companies allows for fewer shipments and increased efficiency. In conclusion, supply chain flexibility and open information flow is key to success, which Zara, Dell, and the Olympics illustrate.
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Image:
Vogelaar, Rob. “Olympic Rings.” Logo. Aviationnews.eu 2 Jul. 2012. 9 Nov. 2012
<http://www.aviationnews.eu/2012/07/02/embraer-to-support-executive-jets-operations-during-olympics/>.