Walmart and the Architecture of Fulfillment
The Rule of Logistics by Jesse LeCavalier is a fascinating exploration of how contemporary urban spaces and their design are shaped by the logistics industry. It sheds light on how the supply chain affects our lives and the environment.
Aesthetically speaking, your average Walmart is not a pretty sight. The vast majority of these discount superstores are single-story cinder-block structures – big, grey boxes on the side of the highway. Not exactly awe-inspiring architecture.
Yet these bland buildings are part of what makes Walmart such a success. Each one is not a standalone outlet, but a node in a vast, interconnected supply chain. And they are all constructed for one function: to keep merchandise moving.
The key message here is: Walmart’s entire business empire is built on logistics.
So, what is logistics? Put very simply, logistics is the coordination and movement of materials over time and space. The ultimate goal of logistics is to reduce friction as much as possible – that is, to keep things circulating quickly, predictably, and efficiently, with no bottlenecks, buildup, or downtime.
Logistics is at the heart of Walmart’s approach to business. Walmart’s business model is premised on keeping retail prices low by selling to consumers at extremely high volumes. This requires the company to move goods from its suppliers to its shelves to its customers’ shopping carts with speed and precision.
So Walmart is obsessed with optimizing logistics – and it shows. A typical distribution center – where Walmart processes goods before they reach retail outlets – handles about six million cubic feet of inventory every twenty-four hours.
The desire to coordinate and facilitate the distribution of goods is baked into Walmart’s structure at every level. For instance, the company was an early adopter of Universal Product Codes, or UPCs. You may know these as barcodes. By sticking these on all items, the company can track what gets sold and where. This information is used to model exactly which stores get which merchandise, and how much.
This information is also used to optimize Walmart’s physical footprint. UPC and other data determine where new stores and distribution centers are built, as well as their overall design and interior layout.
The goal is always efficiency. This is why stores are strategically located along highways and share similar low-cost utilitarian aesthetics. They are considered not individual places, but adaptable infrastructure for circulating commodities.
Clearly, logistical thinking has wide-reaching impact. In the next blink, we’ll take a closer look at the logic of logistics – where it comes from and what it does.
The Rule of Logistics (2016) delves into the intricate and extensive network of the infrastructure that makes your local Walmart come to life. Pulling in elements of history, economics, and architectural theory, this intriguing account traces how a retailer from Arkansas became one of the largest corporations in the world and transformed the American landscape in the process.
A Walmart store manager: The misconception is that were in the retail business, but really were in the distribution business.
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Blink 3 von 12 - Eine kurze Geschichte der Menschheit
von Yuval Noah Harari
