Canadian Tire is perhaps Canada's most widely recognized and well established retailer, but in the early 1990s the company realized its aging stores and out-of-date replenishment system were costing it business. A major renovation of stores and re-engineering of the supply chain yielded impressive results.
Never mind the thriving economy. U.S. manufacturers and distributors are more demanding of service quality - and less tolerant of failure - than ever before.
The Japanese car maker, which once held almost eight months' worth of aftermarket parts at its Belgian logistics center, is well on its way to keeping only a little more than two months' of spares on hand. In doing so, it has relied on surprisingly little in the way of information technology.
A thriving logistics partnership between Dutch frieght forwarder Frans Maas and a Portuguese auto plant is giving new meaning to the term "just in time."
