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The Logistics of the 4th of July

As you all know, last Friday was the celebration of Independence Day and what that means for millions of Americans is a day of reflection as well as spending time with family and friends which involves a lot of food. Looking at this from a supply chain management perspective, it means getting all these food items into the store and ready to be purchased before the big celebration.

I came across this article that displayed some numbers of certain items and activities that take place on the 4th of July. It takes a lot of research, data collection and analysis to plan a day like this, way in advance from a logistics point of view.

According to this article (link below for your reference), 215 million people planned to cook out. Typically having a barbeque which includes items such as hotdogs, burgers, bread, ketchup, mustard, pickles etc. How can you have enough supply for 215 million people with the same items ready and in stock? Which goes back to accurate forecasting which changes the supply and demand factors. Production, packaging, labor, transportation, delivery time are some of the other key factors that need to be taken into account.

This goes to show that behind the scenes is a complex operations plan being executed so that individuals can wake up and find all of their favorite items in the store. The same goes for other holidays such as Christmas and New Year shopping, or Thanksgiving and Black Friday. This applies not just with food but with fashion, furniture, cars, services etc. Here is where the marketing folks also play a huge role in the operations plan during big holidays. If the marketing department is planning a huge campaign and sale, the first people that need to know are the operations department, who will be supplying them with all their stock. They need to know that the regular plan will shift during this time. It is important to make sure that communication is across all functions and as consistent and transparent as possible, so as to avoid any costly problems. After all, the four Ps (i.e. price, product, place and promotion) of Marketing are just as important to their brothers and sisters in supply chain management.

Hope you all enjoyed the long weekend with all the products you love to eat, cook and drink!

http://www.supplychain247.com/article/food_fireworks_and_fun_logistics_facts_for_usa_independence_day

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