Application of Value Stream Mapping in E-Commerce: A Case Study on an Amazon Retailer

In recent years, the e-commerce market has grown significantly, and the online retail market has become very competitive. Online retailers strive to improve their supply chain operations to reduce costs and to improve customer satisfaction. Value stream mapping (VSM), a tool created by the lean prod...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2022-01, Vol.14 (2), p.713
Main Authors: Qin, Yanfang, Liu, Hongrui
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business to business commerce
Competitive advantage
Coronaviruses
Costs
COVID-19
Customer services
Electronic commerce
Fuzzy sets
Intermodal transportation
Investigations
Knowledge management
Lead time
Manufacturing
Manufacturing industry
Mapping
Methods
Pandemics
Product development
Productivity
Retail stores
Suppliers
Supply chain management
Supply chains
Sustainability
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Summary:In recent years, the e-commerce market has grown significantly, and the online retail market has become very competitive. Online retailers strive to improve their supply chain operations to reduce costs and to improve customer satisfaction. Value stream mapping (VSM), a tool created by the lean production movement to identify and reduce errors, losses, and lead time and to improve value-added activities, has been proven to be effective in many manufacturing processes. In this study, we investigate the application of value stream mapping (VSM) in the supply chain of an e-commerce retailer on Amazon. By visualizing the entire supply chain with VSM, the waste that is produced during the delivery process from the retailer to the customer was identified. The five whys method was then applied to find the root cause of the waste. Furthermore, a scoring method was developed to evaluate and compare two different supply chain logistic models to identify a strategy for improvement. This study provides a systematic methodology to understand, evaluate, and improve the entire e-commerce supply chain process utilizing VSM. It was demonstrated that the methodology could improve supply chain management efficiency, customer satisfaction, and cost reduction.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su14020713