Strategic Supply Chain Management: The Five Core Disciplines for Top Performance, Second Editon, 2nd Edition

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PROFILE

HAIER: PURSUING THE CUSTOMER-INSPIRED SUPPLY CHAIN

On August 28, 2008, Zhang Ruimin, the CEO of the Haier Group, announced that as of the next day the company’s central distribution center would be shut down. From then on, Haier products would no longer be sent to a central warehouse, where they would sit waiting until retail customers placed their purchase orders. With the new “zero inventory” strategy, Haier would have to ensure that the supply chain ran so smoothly that products moved without a hitch from the factory directly to retail stores.

This decision was revolutionary: the supply chain organization now had to deal with goods coming off the product line and no place to house them. Yet just three weeks ...