Walmart 1997 Annual Report Download - page 14

TECHNOLOGY
t any given moment, a typical
Wal-Mart Discount Store has
more than 70,000 standard
items in stock. Every one of
them has to be identified, ordered,
inventoried and replenished.
A typical Supercenter is even
tougher to stock, since it also
carries more than 20,000
additional grocery items, a lot
of them perishable. So they
have to be reordered frequently,
sometimes daily.
So how do we do it? We wave
a magic wand!
That “magic wand” is actually
a handheld computer, linked by
a radio-frequency network to
in-store terminals. It’s a high-tech
conduit to an internal information
system that gives every associate
a window on the world of
Wal-Mart merchandise.
There are “magic wands,”
sometimes dozens of them,
in the hands of associates at
every Wal-Mart store. They help
us keep up-to-the-minute track
of the inventory on hand,
deliveries and backup mer-
chandise in stock at Wal-Mart
distribution centers.
The computerized wands
are amazing enough, “seeing
through walls” to find what our
customers want, when they want
it. But that’s just the proverbial tip
of Wal-Mart’s high-tech iceberg.
“What it’s really about is
putting information in people’s
hands,” said Randy Mott,
Senior Vice President and
Chief Information Officer.
“We’re careful not to get too
enamored with all the bells
and whistles of technology.
It’s there to support people.”
With an annual technology
and communication budget of
$500 million and an information
s ystems staff of 1,200, Wal-Mart
12
A
“Space age”
technology helps
keep Wal-Mart
in front on price
and service
The magic wand gives our associates a window on a world of Wal-Mart merchandise.
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