Supply chain information management

In this part, the paper will determine a company in Australia which implemented the fourth party logistics and discuss the trends and challenges for implementing 4PL. In the business world today, corporation are focusing in outsourcing to a single partner who will have the responsibility of assessing, designing, building, managing and measuring the integrated comprehensive supply chain solution on their behalf (Gattorna, 2008). This kind of evolution supply chain outsourcing is referred to as the forth-party logistics (4PL). Woolworth is a grocery company which is the largest food retailer company in Australia that deals with shipment activities. Using the 4PL model in supply chain, the party that ships products engages the provider or the manufacturer to play the role of the primary outsourcing liaison (Treadgold, 2006).

Research shows that executives in supply chain are planning to invest over $1 million in the developed technology. The use of 4PL in the Company has enabled it to design and implement a solution that is cloud-based which collects data from all the internal and external sources providing in sigh during every step of the process regardless of the person handling the shipment. Supply chain and economic globalization is also another trend. As the economy of the world is in the process of being more integrated, 4PLs is required to work on a large scale with a distinctly global outlook. Distribution will increase and develop across the globe creating more opportunities in various parts of the world creating supply chain that is more complex.

The storage facilities (warehouses) in most cases are equipped with special facilities to prevent the grocery from going bad i. e. refrigerators, since most of the grocery products are highly perishable and require special storage conditions. Online grocery business also requires delivery infrastructures which assist in preventing instances of returns, wrong item delivery and delivery delays which may bring loss and bad image to the business. The transportation and delivery automobiles, trucks, usually have special chambers with refrigeration equipment’s that helps in the storage of highly perishable grocery products. the strategy methods entail case studies, historical analysis, archival analysis, survey and experiments. According to Yin (2003), the five research strategies are constraint by three conditions which includes “the kind of research question asked, the degree of control the researcher has over actual behavioral events, and the amount of emphasis on current, as opposed to past, events”.

The other strategy is the order fulfillment strategies are the method used by online grocery firms to ensure orders are made, processed and delivered in accordance to the customers demands and needs. the most common order fulfillment strategies include using shelves in store and the use of warehouse. This can be accomplished by installation of appropriate technology and facilities like web vans, streamlines. Ensuring you keep things up to date like pricing, dates of expiration and label reviews. Product placements and also going with the technological trends. Retailer Delivery process Profit Model Retail Grocery Business P. O. Box City, State Revenue Same Weight Size Line Total Selling Price per Kg $ - $ - $ - $ - Unit sold in Kg $ - $ - $ - $ - Total Revenue $ - $ - $ - $ - Expenses         Track cost/ hour $ - $ - $ - $ - Hours $ - $ - $ - $ - Total Expenses $ - $ - $ - $ - Profits Before Tax $ - $ - $ - $ - Tax $ - $ - $ - $ - Profits After Tax $ - $ - $ - $ - Work Cited Gattorna, John.