The first contributor to Whirlpool’s success was the fact that Slone’s strategy realized that the problem facing the supply chain was a result of not only an old system in place, but also because of inefficient or poor management of the supply chain. In this regard, the solution was not only directed at improving the individual links such as the existing suppliers, logistic partners, etc. but rather it also involves completely changing the process of how supply chain is managed. In which case, it thus means modifying the entire procedures and system as well as the way the company managed the supply chain. Likewise, it asserts the proactive role of top management down to bottom-line employees who are involved in the total distribution of goods and services.
Secondly, the company realized the importance of meeting their clients’ needs in a faster and more efficient ways. Thus, the employment of “schedule actualization” or the just-in-time (JIT) approach is asserted of critical role in improving the supply chain of Whirlpool. This is because people nowadays are more demanding due to their busy lifestyle. Thus, oftentimes, people purchase appliances with the expectation that the store will be able to provide or deliver the product to them in just a couple of days, hence “deliver with integrity.”
Thirdly, building better expertise in the application of decision support and IT tools such as CPFR and i2 to identify patterns, assess potential performance, and manage newly developed processes was an excellent move on the part of the planners. Benchmarking best practices in forecasting led Whirlpool and some of its key trade partners to believe that CPFR offered a significant opportunity for improvement in the area of forecasting. The end result was that Whirlpool and its trade partners saw a reduction in weekly order variability due to improved forecasting and a less