Seminar

Work Topic:

Identification of WST and SCM, LEAN principles

in Supply chain of Amazon
TEAM Name- Redwings

Date: 21.01.2022

1. Saket Joshi 2. Dinesh Gangurde 3. Samarth Pathak 4. Piyush Narkhede 5. Rohan Patil 6. Harshdeepsinh
Sarvaiya
TABLE OF CONTENTS II

Contents
1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 History: ...................................................................................................................................................... 1
2. Amazon Products:............................................................................................................................... 2
3. Supply Chain Management: ................................................................................................................ 3
3.1 Process Overview in Amazon Warehouse.............................................................................................. 3
3.1.1 Order Placement and Location of the Warehouse ........................................................................... 3
3.1.2 Building of Inventory in the Warehouse ........................................................................................... 4
3.1.3 Picking of the Item within the Warehouse ........................................................................................ 4
3.1.4 Sorting of items from Tote.................................................................................................................. 5
3.1.5 The Packer and SLAM ....................................................................................................................... 5
3.1.6 Shipments ............................................................................................................................................. 5
3.2.1 Storage policy ...................................................................................................................................... 6
3.2.2 Order Consolidation Policies.............................................................................................................. 6
4. Wholeness System thinking:................................................................................................................ 7
4.1 Wholeness Synthesis ................................................................................................................................ 7
4.2 Wholeness Analysis .................................................................................................................................. 7
5. Principles of SCM: .............................................................................................................................. 9
5.1 Integration ................................................................................................................................................ 9
5.1.1 Horizontal Integration: ....................................................................................................................... 9
5.1.2 Vertical Integration: ........................................................................................................................... 9
5.2 Management of Processes ........................................................................................................................ 9
5.3 Value-added processes ............................................................................................................................. 9
5.5 Bullwhip Effect ....................................................................................................................................... 11
5.6 Decoupling Point .................................................................................................................................... 11
6. Principles of LEAN: .......................................................................................................................... 12
6.1 Pull........................................................................................................................................................... 12
6.2 One-piece Flow ....................................................................................................................................... 12
6.3 Takt Time ............................................................................................................................................... 13
6.4 Zero defects............................................................................................................................................. 14
7. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 15
8. References ......................................................................................................................................... 16
List of Figures ....................................................................................................................................... 17
LIST OF ABBREVIATION III

List of Abbreviation:
AWS – Amazon Web Services
FC – Fulfillment Center
DC – Distribution Center
WST – Wholeness System Thinking
WS – Wholeness Synthesis
WA – Wholeness Analysis
FBA – Fulfillment by Amazon
OTT – Over the Top
FBM – Fulfillment by Merchant
BPM – Business Process Management
INTRODUCTION

1. Introduction
This term paper is to discuss how the supply chain is implemented in Amazon along with 6
supply chain principles, 4 Lean principles, Logistics of Amazon, and Wholeness System
Thinking. The reason for choosing this topic is to become aware of the different elements,
interconnections, and purpose of a successful company like Amazon and relate it to its current
perspectives.

1.1 History:
On July 5, 1994, Jeff Bezos launched Amazon in his garage in Bellevue, Washington. It
began as a book-selling website, but has now evolved to include gadgets, software, video
games, fashion, furniture, cuisine, toys, and jewelry. Amazon established Amazon Web
Services (AWS) in 2002, which offered marketers and developers with information on
website popularity, Internet traffic patterns, and other analytics. Elastic Compute Cloud,
which rents computer processing capacity, and Simple Storage Service, which rents data
storage via the Internet, were added to Amazon's AWS portfolio in 2006. In the same year,
Amazon launched Fulfillment by Amazon, a service that managed the inventory of
individuals and small businesses selling their wares on the company's website. Amazon
bought Kiva Systems in 2012 to automate lending.

Figure 1: Amazon Company Logo

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_(company)

1
AMAZON PRODUCTS

2. Amazon Products:
Amazon's product lines available on its website include several media (books, DVDs, music
CDs, videotapes, and software), apparel, baby products, consumer electronics, beauty
products, gourmet food, groceries, health and personal-care items, industrial & scientific
supplies, kitchen items, jewelry, watches, lawn and garden items, musical instruments,
sporting goods, tools, automotive items, and toys & games. In August 2019, Amazon applied
to have a liquor store in San Francisco, CA to ship beer and alcohol within the city. Certain
nations have their own Amazon retail websites, and some of Amazon's products are available
for international shipping to other countries. In November 2020, the company started an
online delivery service dedicated to prescription drugs. The service provides discounts up to
80% for generic drugs and up to 40% for branded drugs for Prime subscribe users. The
products can be purchased on the company's website or at over 50,000 bricks-and-mortar
pharmacies in the United States.

Amazon has several products and services available such as: -

1. Amazon Fresh 7. Amazon Drive 13. Kindle Store

2. Amazon Prime 8. Echo 14. Music
3. Amazon Web Services 9. Kindle 15. Amazon Studios
4. Alexa 10. Fire tablets 16. Amazon Wireless
5. Appstore 11. Fire TV
6. Amazon Academy 12. Video

Figure 2: Amazon Services

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_(company)

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SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMNT

3. Supply Chain Management:

Amazon is one of the most well-known and successful online merchants and e-commerce
enterprises. Amazon Fulfillment Centers are massive warehouses where the corporation stores
its products and handles marketing, shipping, and returns. "Warehousing is a critical
component of every logistics system." More than 500 people work in the warehouses, which
are equipped with various types of technology. According to estimates, the activity of
collecting orders accounts for more than half of the warehouse's total operational
expenditures. Receiving, picking, and shipment are the three basic components of a
warehouse, which can help you better comprehend the issue at hand. The first is how the
warehouse obtains its inventory, which is obtained from various dealers, vendors, and other
sources before being transported to storage. Last but not least, labeling, packaging, and finally
sending the product out are the final steps before it leaves the warehouse. Storage in a
warehouse is critical because it must be maximized for the 'pickers' who select the things.

3.1 Process Overview in Amazon Warehouse

3.1.1 Order Placement and Location of the Warehouse

This happens when the user places an order on the website. Once the order is placed, the
warehouse where the item can be fetched from is located. This depends on several factors.
Below is the Flow chart of an ordered product being in a warehouse.

Figure 3: order placement and location of warehouse flowchart

Source: https://www.qeretail.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/amazon-ecommerce-product-management.jpg

3
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMNT

3.1.2 Building of Inventory in the Warehouse

Dealers schedule a time to stock their products in Amazon's fulfillment center. The Amazon
dashboard produced barcodes for all of the items. The receiving clerk weighs the item and
scans it. The objects are then transported to random storage, where they are simply allocated
a random warehouse location. The clerk scans each item as it is placed so that the system
knows where it is.

Figure 4: Building of inventory flowchart

Source: https://www.qeretail.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/amazon-ecommerce-product-
management.jpg

3.1.3 Picking of the Item within the Warehouse

The item is assigned to a 'picker,' who is responsible for locating the item in a certain aisle
and retrieving it. He receives a list of aisles from which the things must be selected.

Figure 5: Picking of items by a picker

Source: http://amazonemancipatory.com/pick-paths

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SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMNT

When the picker arrives at a specific aisle, he scans the area, and the 'handheld gun' instructs him on
which item to select from that aisle. After that, he picks up the object, scans it, and places it in his 'tote.'
He does it for many products until his tote is filled and is ready for the next process.

3.1.4 Sorting of items from Tote

Since the tote (Kart) consists of items from various customers, the items are first separated
into sorting trays. All the items are run through a sorter, where each sort of tray is scanned by
a laser. The items are re-binned according to the customer who has ordered them. Once all
the items belonging to one customer have been collected, they move to the next process.

3.1.5 The Packer and SLAM

The packer packs all the items belonging to one customer and attaches a sticker which is scanned
with customer information (also called the SP00). Once the package goes to SLAM, it is weighed,
measure and a label is generated. The package then goes on to shipment.

Figure 6: Labelling at Amazon FC

Source: https://h5a8b6k7.stackpathcdn.com/images/DSCF9083.jpg

3.1.6 Shipments
Packages from different users are sorted into ‘flats’ or ‘simulators’ and then either loaded onto
trailers or fluid loaded into trucks. Multiple shipments go out at once.

Figure 7: Loading Shipments

Source: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/4/23/18508093/amazon-prime-two-day-shipping

5
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMNT

3.2 Optimizing an Order Picking Process at Amazon

3.2.1 Storage policy

In a warehouse, any of these three types of storage could be present. Dedicated storage is
where a storage location or a few adjacent storage locations in the warehouse are dedicated to
a particular item. On the downside, because a specific location is always saved for a product,
even if the product is not actively present in the warehouse, this reduces space usage.
Random storage is where one type of item is spread all over the warehouse so that the item
closest to the picker can be picked. This has a high space utilization but is possible only in
computer-guided warehouses. The closest open location storage is a variation of randomized
storage, where the pickers themselves can choose the empty location. According to our
research, Amazon Fulfilment Centers use random storage to store inventory. This decreases
travel time to each item.

3.2.2 Order Consolidation Policies

The two types of order consolidation policies are single order picking, where one customer’s
order turns into a pick list, and order batching, where there are multiple orders in one picklist.
However, this gives rise to the problem of batching orders such that items can be picked at
the same time to reduce travel paths.
3.3.3 Order Routing Policies
In the actual world, optimal routing rules are difficult to create because algorithmically
generated pick paths may appear nonsensical to pickers, and they may not follow the pick
paths. Furthermore, in ideal situations, aisle congestion is not considered.
There are three different types of routing strategies. A return technique is when a picker
enters an aisle to see whether there is anything to be picked. The picker enters from the front
of the aisle and returns to the front once he or she has reached the farthest item to be picked
in that aisle. A picker using an S-shaped approach walks the entire aisle, alternating between
the front end and the back end. The greatest gap approach entails the picker attempting to
maximize the size of the gap.

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WHOLENESS SYSTEM THINKING

4. Wholeness System thinking:

The wholeness System thinking is understanding the role and importance of purpose in a
system pyramid hierarchy. It is the sum of Wholeness Synthesis (WS) and wholeness
Analysis (WA)

Figure 8: Development of the system’s purpose role in considering external environment represented by a superior
system in reductionism and systems thinking pyramid hierarchy

Source: Sustainability 2018, 10, 4392; doi:10.3390/su10124392, www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability

4.1 Wholeness Synthesis

Overall, it is the identification of a superior system that indirectly means identifying the
customer who is using the services. Next is to understand the superior system. Here it is about
understanding the external environment and the market conditions. E.g. What is the
expectation of customers or the local government? Further, we need to identify the role of the
function performed of the examined system in the superior system. This means identifying
the purpose of the studied system in the superior system i.e., Identifying the role of Amazon’s
supply chain in the superior system. The bottom line is companies should define the Purpose
by considering the external market conditions and customer expectations.

4.2 Wholeness Analysis

Wholeness Analysis is taking the system apart and studying its parts separately. Here in our
case, we are taking apart the studied system which is the Amazon supply chain.
Understanding the parts like Fulfilment Centers, Delivery Stations, Prime Now hubs, Sortation
Centres, Pantry/Fresh Food DC’s, Whole Foods Retail, Retailers and Sellers is being done in
this study. And finally, we aggregate understanding of the part to understanding of the whole
system i.e., aggregate understanding of the parts and interactions into the understanding of
the whole system here it is referred to as studied system: Amazon’s supply chain and superior
system: Customer/ External environment. So overall wholeness analysis is understanding
each part and interaction of each part in the wholeness system to study the purpose of
integration with the superior system parts.

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WHOLENESS SYSTEM THINKING

4.3 Purpose of Amazon

The company's objective was originally described in the Annual Report of 1998 as "the most
customer-centric organization in the world." This focus remains even today. The Amazon.com
website states that the company's mission is “to be Earth's most customer-centric company
where people can find and discover anything they want to buy online”. The company’s
primary goal is to offer a one-stop service so that customers can find everything on Amazon’s
website and the company will deliver it to the buyer's place within the promised time. To do
this, the company needs to cooperate with partners to construct multi-tier inventory systems
to provide a nearly unlimited amount of goods. It also necessitates efficient distribution
networks to deliver items to clients on time. All of this reflects Amazon's fundamental aim of
providing high customer responsiveness.

Figure 9: Purpose of Amazon

Source: https://fourweekmba.com/amazon-vision-statement-mission-statement

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PRINCIPLES OF SCM

5. Principles of SCM:
5.1 Integration

5.1.1 Horizontal Integration:

When a business wants to grow through horizontal integration, its primary objective is to
acquire a similar business in the same sector. Other objectives include increasing size, creating
economies of scale, increasing market power over distributors and suppliers, increasing
differentiation between products or services, expanding the market of the company or
entering a new market, and decreasing competition. Amazon started its business by selling
books and ventured into the E-commerce business. Amazon took over many other sectors like
logistics, IT, Food, Consumer Electronics, and OTT.

5.1.2 Vertical Integration:

A company that undergoes vertical integration acquires a company operating in the same
industry's production process. Strengthening its supply chain, reducing production costs,
capturing upstream or downstream profits, or accessing new distribution channels are some of
the reasons why a business may choose to integrate vertically. Amazon saves a lot of storage
costs by integrating the inventories in Distribution Centres and the warehouses of partners.
The location of each distribution center has been demonstrated so that the replenishment
route from the distribution center to stores is optimized. There is no need to keep a high level
of inventory like physical retail stores. Amazon has different processing procedures and
equipment when dealing with various product groups to attain faster processing times. Those
products which are easily classified and transported are stored in highly automate
equipment, while those irregularly shaped products are handled by equipment of low-level
automation. To simplify and extend the supply chain further, Amazon has integrated
individual third-party suppliers to maximize the supply of products. Amazon has ensured that
sellers who use the platform have various fulfillment options available to them like FBA
(Fulfilment by Amazon), FBM (Fulfilment by Merchant).

5.2 Management of Processes

Amazon can manage its processes at the smoothest level possible because they design the
processes based on the company’s purpose. Amazon.com, for example, uses Business Process
Management (BPM) software to automate a few key procedures. Business process
management (BPM) is a coordinated effort between business units and IT. BPM stands for
Business Process Management, and it is a method for creating better procedures. The Benefits
of BPM are using the cloud and big data, Amazon has reimagined processes to create its
business model. BPM is also being used to migration of data to the Cloud, Logistics
(Delivery) becomes better, communication with Key Partners and Customers takes place
more transparently, it reduces error rate, BPM also acquired Kiva robotic system to improve
logistics infrastructure.

5.3 Value-added processes

Amazon's goal is to be the most customer-centric company on the planet, creating a location
9
PRINCIPLES OF SCM

where people can come to find and discover everything they might want to buy online."
Amazon offers multiple products and services catering to customers in different markets.
They offer many value propositions. The core Amazon business model is based on an
eCommerce market platform and currently, the platform offers the following
products/services: Prime Video, Amazon Music, Echo & Alexa, Fire Tablets, Fire TV, Kindle
E-readers & Books, Merchant products, and Vendor products.

Marketplace for customers

Value Preposition
Marketplace for sellers

Figure 10: Amazon Services

Source: https://www.garyfox.co/business-model/key-resources/

5.4 Push – Pull Strategy

Amazon uses the ‘push strategy’ to stock in the warehouses with products forecasting demand
in the nearby location. Amazon uses the ‘pull strategy’ by selling the product directly from
third-party sellers. Amazon has started with pull systems as there was no inventory, no
warehouse, and no overhead. When the time has passed, the growth of the company has
forced Amazon to hold some inventory to respond to customer needs by having several
distribution centers. So, the strategy has changed to push-pull. The inventory is held using a
push strategy while orders are shipped using a pull strategy. The decoupling point of Amazon
is distribution centers. However, some slow items are still used the pure pull strategy as there
is no inventory. By having several distribution centers, the holding cost for Amazon is
increased as well.

Figure 11: Push-Pull Strategy

Source: https://www.allaboutlean.com/push-pull/
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PRINCIPLES OF SCM

5.5 Bullwhip Effect

Distorted information from one end of SCM to the other can lead to tremendous inefficiencies
and is called the bullwhip effect. It is reduced with the use of Inventory management
software. Products with greater demand are limited to one or two quantities per customer.

Figure 12: Bullwhip Effect

Source: https://lumina.com/operational-risk-scenario-analysis-and-the-bullwhip-effect/

The strategic partnerships that Amazon has developed have helped with reducing the Bullwhip effect
with the different levels of lot size suppliers. By strategically developing these partnerships Amazon has
been able to manage demand ships through its multiple distributions. Amazon has done a great job in
creating the links that we discussed earlier to help reduce the bullwhip effect by having this process is
placed. Amazon has a large number of suppliers which maintain their inventory levels and have larger
amounts available to Amazon customers. All of Amazon’s partners can quickly meet high demands for
products by using the systems that have put in place electronic data interchange (EDI). EDI can transfer
data back and forth to communicate to Amazon and meet obligations. The ability to have an order
management system that can help eliminate the bullwhip effect through its supply chain.

5.6 Decoupling Point

The decoupling point is where push meets pull. Moving the decoupling point towards
upstream is expected. The decoupling point of Amazon is distribution centers. Utilizing a
push-pull supply chain strategy falls into alignment with Amazon’s strategic direction to
ensure delivery is as quick as. Their use of sophisticated information technology, warehouses,
multi-tier inventory management, and private transportation makes their supply chain the
most efficient among all the major companies in the world. With a supply chain, heavily
dependent on inventory outsourcing, they use their delivery vehicles for same-day delivery.
As 82% of transactions comprise third-party sales, it would not be feasible to hold all that
stock in warehouses, hence they only hold the most popular items in their strategic facilities.
As a result of their business structure, the supply chain uses a pure push strategy for all
products stored in warehouses. All products sold through third-party sellers follow a pure pull
strategy. By segregating inventory, Amazon is able quickly to respond to customer demand,
as well as cut costs or slack where possible.

11
PRINCIPLES OF LEAN

6. Principles of LEAN:
6.1 Pull
Amazon starts the processing of the product once they receive the order from the customer.
The first modification they made was to reduce their inventory while boosting the range of
inventory available. Reduction in the inventory let them lower inventory management costs
and increasing the range of inventories helped Amazon to increase their customer base. The
second significant change they adopted was improving the inventory management
performance through location postponement. Here, inventory could be centralized in one
strategic location where it can be transported to the desired locations as and when the demand
arises. It helped them to reduce their facilities cost. Ever since its inception, Amazon was
extremely in the opinion of not outsourcing its activities.

Figure 13: True Pull

Source: https://www.allaboutlean.com/push-pull/

Amazon believed that a company should never try to rely on others for its activities if it has
its own resources. Though this consent was true to a great extent, this was one of the greatest
mistakes Amazon has ever committed unless it decided to take an innovative step. What
Amazon did was it did not outsource inventory management of products that were popular or
frequently purchased. Such inventory was controlled internally, while wholesalers stocked
non-popular products and delivered them as and when Amazon desired. They adopted this
system because they felt that internet retailers should not allow other forms to hold inventory
in the supply chain as by not doing so, they can provide optimal services to fulfill orders by
locating the stock in their facilities efficiently. Implementing a pull strategy in this manner
helped amazon to deliver the product only when there is a demand.

6.2 One-piece Flow

After the arrival of the product to the fulfillment center, each product is packed, scanned, and
weighed before adding to the database. Amazon tries to “simplify” transportation by using
Amazon’s logistic department to transport in the region. The service for customers can be
realized quickly. So, amazon’s distribution center could increase the operating efficiency and
create a different distribution center according to the different categories of goods, simplified
and standardized to reduce management and running costs. When a customer places an order
from Amazon.com, the website integrates with the Amazon order sourcing engine to
12
PRINCIPLES OF LEAN

determine which warehouse should ship the order. This decision occurs in real-time and is
aimed at minimizing transportation costs associated with that order. The savings are based on
a significant fixed cost component to parcel transportation. This is a decision-making process.
Sophisticated operations research models and IT capabilities need to be developed to
implement these decisions at scale to reduce fulfillment and transportation costs without
compromising the promised delivery date to the customer. By processing the order one by
one in a one-piece flow amazon can deliver the product in the shortest possible time and make
the customer happy.

Figure 14: One Piece Flow

Source: https://www.treston.us/blog/batch-vs-one-piece-flow-manufacturing

6.3 Takt Time

Amazon makes every effort to deliver items as soon as possible. The company's information
technology was always great at figuring out what the consumer wanted and relaying the
appropriate information. The promised delivery date to the customer, for example, drives the
choice of transportation method for a certain shipment. Lower-cost choices are only
considered if they have the same chance of being delivered on schedule. Given Amazon's
transformation from a bookshop to a one-stop shop for everything, the company had to
reinvent automation by adhering to the notion of "autonomy," which entails reserving humans
for high-value, complex jobs and relying on robots to assist them. Autonomy aids humans in
completing jobs that bring value in a defect-free and safe manner, according to Amazon.
Autonomy, according to Amazon, enables humans to execute jobs that add value in a defect-
free and safe manner by automating only the most basic, low-value phases in a process. With
the use of automation, waste or redundant operations are removed, and the logistics process is
optimized. This automation saves a significant amount of time, allowing the product to be
delivered on time, as promised.

13
PRINCIPLES OF LEAN

Figure 15: Takt Time

Source: https://www.leansixsigmadefinition.com/glossary/takt-time/

6.4 Zero defects

Amazon tries to avoid mistakes. If done, they try to fix it as early as possible. The company’s
practice of pulling the Andon cord in its customer service department helps to eliminate tens of
thousands of defects per year while empowering front-line workers. An Andon Cord is the
name for a manufacturing principle used to notify management or suppliers of a quality or
process concern. Andon Cords were pioneered by Toyota as part of the Toyota Production
System; they gave every employee the ability to stop all or part of the production process
when they noticed a quality issue on the line. Amazon began using Andon Cords in 2012,
giving any Support agent the option to issue a warning or remove a product from buyable
status if they discover a genuine or potential quality or safety concern. As part of its AWS
operations, the company now employs a formal Amazon Virtual Andon and sends vendors an
email with "Andon Cord" whenever problems that must be resolved promptly emerge. All
people are considered to be at roughly a Three Sigma level in Six Sigma terms, which means
they accomplish a task with about 93 percent accuracy and 7% faults. By automating only the
basic, repetitive, low-value phases in a process, autonomy assists humans in performing
activities in a defect-free and safe manner. As a result, you have the best of both worlds: a
highly adaptable human aided by a machine that takes the process from Three Sigma to Six
Sigma.

14
CONCLUSION

7. Conclusion
The success of Amazon from a pace perspective is that many advantages can be accomplished
simultaneously by being quick, enhancing customer loyalty, increasing business potential,
reducing overall risks, and reducing total costs. We have certainly witnessed that there is so
much more to Amazon’s success as a global company. The key factors that have contributed
to most of their success include putting their customers first, streamlining processes to create
exceptional inventory management, evolving their supply chain to adapt to customer
demands and logistics systems. Recently they have been moving more towards a green
environment and technology like introducing climate pledge friendly products, frustration-
free packaging, zero carbon emission products, and electric vehicles for their delivery.

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REFERENCES

8. References
1. https://www.lean.org/leanpost/Posting.cfm?LeanPostId=1100
2. Sustainable Logistics Management in the 21st Century Requires Wholeness Systems Thinking
by David Holman, PavelWicher, Radim Lenort, Venuše Dolejšová, David Staš, and Ioana
Giurgiu,
3. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/when-toyota-met- e-
commerce-lean-at-amazon
4. A Case Study of Amazon on Its Supply Chain Management. (2016, Mar 09). Retrieved from
http://studymoose.com/a-case-study-of-amazon-on-its-supply-chain-management-essay
5. Bharadwaj, Samrat. (2020). The Engineering Behind A Successful Supply Chain
Management Strategy: An Insight into Amazon.Com. International Journal of Scientific &
Technology Research. 8. 281-286.
6. Y. Yua, X. Wanga, R. Y. Zhongb, G. Q. Huanga (2016). “E-commerce Logistics in Supply
Chain Management: Practice Perspective.” Procedia CIRP 52 (2016) :180)
7. https://medium.com/@Bridgr/taming-the-supply-chain-bullwhip-effect-with-iot-
fb5757552f78
8. https://www.coursehero.com/file/p3468n3/The-difficulty-in-handling-the-bullwhip-effect-
is-that-it-cannot-be-forecasted/
9. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-reasons-for-amazons-evolution-of-supply-chain-and-
distribution-systems-in-the-united-state

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LIST OF FIGURES

List of Figures

Figure 1: Amazon Company Logo ......................................................................................................................... 1

Figure 2: Amazon Services .................................................................................................................................... 2
Figure 3: order placement and location of warehouse flowchart ........................................................................... 3
Figure 4: Building of inventory flowchart ............................................................................................................. 4
Figure 5: Picking of items by a picker ................................................................................................................... 4
Figure 6: Labelling at Amazon FC......................................................................................................................... 5
Figure 7: Loading Shipments ................................................................................................................................. 5
Figure 8: Development of the system’s purpose role in considering external environment represented by a
superior system in reductionism and systems thinking pyramid hierarchy............................................................ 7
Figure 9: Purpose of Amazon ................................................................................................................................ 8
Figure 10: Amazon Services ................................................................................................................................ 10
Figure 11: Push-Pull Strategy .............................................................................................................................. 10
Figure 12: Bullwhip Effect................................................................................................................................... 11
Figure 13: True Pull ............................................................................................................................................. 12
Figure 14: One Piece Flow................................................................................................................................... 13
Figure 15: Takt Time ........................................................................................................................................... 14

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