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The Evolution Of Supply Chain Management

Mattel Inc. has cut weeks out of the time it takes to design, produce, and ship everything from Barbies to Hot Wheels. Atari Inc. can receive orders from retailers on a Wednesday and have the video games on customers' shelves by Friday. Best Buy Co (NYSE: BBY). can check inventory levels at each of its 750 stores in North America as often as every half-hour, thereby cutting much of the guesswork out of replenishment.
All indications are that this holiday season is going to be jollier than it has been in recent years. Many retailers and manufacturers reap much of their annual revenue in the fourth quarter, and now it's payback time for those that continued to fuel supply-chain projects through the dark times. The National Retail Federation predicts holiday sales will increase 5.7% this year to $217.4 billion, the largest increase since 1999. Holiday sales last year increased only 2.2%, to $205.6 billion, over the year before.

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The company's IT GRC software helps automate the assesment and testing process for business decision makers with a customizable dashboard."We move products all year long, but we have huge shipments in the November and December time frames," says Gus Pagonis, Sears, Roebuck and Co.'s senior VP of supply chain and president of Sears Logistics Services. "This is going to be a great fourth quarter for everyone. All the signs are pointing to that."



Mattel went "knee-deep into the supply chain" to improve operations, Eckroth says.

Photo by David Strick

Forget Black Friday. The holiday shopping season is already in full swing at stores across the country and on the Web (see story, "Tools Track Online Shopping"). "We've already placed our bets, and our peak shipping period is going on right now," says Mattel CIO Joe...