Walmart has announced the launch of a new program that will fine suppliers for early deliveries, late deliveries, and even deliveries that are on time but are ‘improperly packed.’
According to Bloomberg, the new “On-Time, In Full” program applies to shippers of goods with a fast turnover, such as groceries, paper towels, and other everyday household products.
Once known for back rooms so packed that some inventory had to be kept outside, Walmart implements this new policy as one way keep its storage rooms neat and tidy, and its products pristine and undamaged.
The policy will go into effect starting in August and will require suppliers to “deliver what we ordered 100 percent in full, on the must-arrive-by date 75 percent of the time.”
A scoring system has been created for the new program that will determine who was at fault for the late or early delivery. If Walmart is responsible, the shipper will not be fined. If the shipper is responsible for the late or early delivery, they will be fined 3% of the value of the load.
The program will also keep track of suppliers’ late, early, and on time deliveries month to month.
Opposition to the new policies “will not be tolerated,” Walmart says.
Walmart is “working closely with our vendors to help reach these targets.”
“We know that when products we’ve ordered arrive on time, it results in happier customers,’’ said a Walmart spokesman in a presentation to vendors earlier this year.
“Variability is the No. 1 killer of the supply chain,’’ said Kendall Trainor, a Wal-Mart senior director of operations support and supplier collaboration.
Walmart looks to have these sorts of deliveries “On-Time, In-Full” 95% of the time by February 2018.