The difference between Dell and Apple's supply chain

Compared with the traditional supply chain, Dell's supply chain has two main differences: first, there are no distributors, wholesalers and retailers in its supply chain, but the company sells products directly to customers, which has the advantage of obtaining order information accurately and quickly at one time-because it is online payment, it also solves the cash flow problem (Dell hardly needs its own cash to support operations). In addition, because the profit earned by retailers is removed, the cost is also reduced; Secondly, Dell adopted the method of outsourcing services, which reduced some operating costs. In this way, suppliers, Dell and service providers have formed a complete chain.

Simply put, the traditional chain production line is like this: a machine moves slowly at one end of the production line, and each operator adds his own parts at his own station until one end of the production line. Such a chain production line is usually suitable for mass production of products with the same specifications, with high speed and efficiency, but poor flexibility. Dell's global production is a regional production line, not a chain. The chain of each workspace does not directly run through it, but goes to this area, which is full of parts of different specifications. Each machine has a required specification, which may be completely different from other requirements, one for each batch, which may be different from the previous one or the latter one. This is the biggest feature of Dell's supply chain and the most unique place of Dell's computer specialization.

In fact, Dell's supply chain system has already broken the traditional rationing relationship between "manufacturers" and "suppliers". In Dell's business platform, customers have become the core of the supply chain. Mr. Sachs said: "Because of Dell's direct business model, we can get first-hand customer feedback and demand from the market, and then other business departments such as production can timely convey these customer information to Dell raw material suppliers and partners."