rs Dell is making use of E-Commerce technology. This will be discussed in a later section under the heading (Dells use of Technology to make its logistics function more efficient and effective). At this point an analysis of Dell’s external logistics.The diagrams on the following page is a representation of a blueprint of Dells external logistics process:The pictures labelled A, B, C, D, each represent a Dell customer. The diagram at the center of the page represents Dell’s Austin, Texas Factory, where numbers diagrams 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are suppliers.When Dell receives an order from a customer, it is broken down into a list of the parts needed to build the computer. After this list has been compiled this information is fed to pertinent suppliers in the form of an electronic message. Those suppliers in turn would have an idea of what components would be needed from them, to facilitate timely delivery they expected to be located at least fifteen minutes away from Dell’s factory.Communication with in the supply chain would be done via an extranet, where suppliers are also made aware of the production time-scale. Based on these time-scales which have been set suppliers can therefore determine how to best organise their production process to meet the specifications for components. These components are fed into Dell from each specialist supplier; some arriving as and when needed in the production process.Dell found that the lead-time could be further reduced by having some of the components or peripherals sent directly to the customer rather than to the factory and then to the customer.For example, when a computer is ready to be shipped, an e-mail is sent to a supplier who pulls from stock the specified video display unit/s and sends them/it to arrive with the PC.During this entire process a Dell customer is able to go online and receive some feedback on the status of their order as highlighted in the Appendix of thi...
