Santa's Supply Chain has been the most successful study case ever. Every year on Christmas Eve, a thick-white-bearded-jolly-old man – all these adjectives describing the commonly-known Santa-, slides down the chimney, if any, of all homes around the world, through early hours of December the 25th, delivering presents and joy.
It could be a nightmare for everyone trying to do so, but not for Santa, as he has the best Logistics, Supply Chain and updated platform to manage things from ent-to-end all through this cheerful-magic season.
The tradition has by far gone beyond millions of children, always considering that Santa is watching them all and knows everything! Are you one of the million likely well-behaved children Santa will deliver the most-desired gifts when he comes?
Tracking Santa's delivery through the frosty air
To begin with, he knows when you are sleeping and if you've been good or bad. But how he and his logistics team manage to do so and be successful?
· Santa's well-known expertise in these matters makes him know the Supply Chain and Logistics process like the back of his palm!
· Santa has to figure out the enormous number of children that, according to the United Nations data, there are 24.2 million children aged seven and below! So, Santa has to do the Math.
· These kids have to be between the age of five and seven (after that ages parents will be responsible for managing such logistics to pair Santa's. God knows how!
· It is a requisite these children head to bed at a decent hour of 9 pm; however, these modern-cyber-oriented-well-behaved children have been changing the world's decent sleeping-hours.
· Santa has to manage the delivering of presents during full-nine hours or so before impatient-expectant children awake darting to the Christmas tree.
Procurement leadership - Any excellent Procurement leader must put his staff at the top of any project. Is Santa paying extra hours, by the way?
Supply Chain network - Santa counts on the largest supplier's network to provide a significant variety of products, both, locally and remotely manufactured. What makes Santa great is the level of SC visibility when synchronising and optimising processes like raw-material and component sources, procurement strategic, customer's demands, freights, incoming inventory. The transportation network to receive goods at Santa's workshop and for his specialised staff to further detailing all toys received.
Forecasting and Planning - It will be quite a journey departing from the North Pole and flying all the world around. He has to consider hiring more elves to ensure lead-time delivery that will bring higher costs in the long-run. Rudolph's staff should know in advance cuttings from Northwest Passage through Greenland and all through the world to save time; so, collaboration and good communication would make the difference.
· They focus on the targeted market - Great kids behaving well.
· Customers satisfaction first – Delivering presents as promised and on time without risking quality.
· Global distribution channels – Santa is capable of travelling the world in 24 hours.
· Personalised-effective-delivery model - Santa is famous for delivering magic presents from North Pole-to-chimney, without needing of mediators and no papers to sign!
· A committed workforce – Santa likes to enhance his crew first. His team of Little Helpers is the most productive; no staff turnover, even when working overtime.
Shipments – Up to this point, he has linked most of his manufacturing suppliers to take care of his customised demand on toys. His packing list has to be neat to put off paperwork delays. By using the suitable-fancy packages and considering the amount required, he can get a special-shipping quote from the Rudolph Line.
No custom-random checking surprises to such a heavy load, providing he counts on updated-official regulations. In any case, we've heard that ports ignore off all over-weight or delay-fees to looking for participating on this unparalleled season, quite far busier than from Black Friday!
A Cloud-based Supply Chain – Santa's list of well-behaved children, is extensive; the implementation of edge-technology like Big Data supports staff to store the complete info of each child, making it more manageable.
Manufacturing and Inventory - Santa's Little Helpers need to produce over 6 million presents every day of the year. Therefore, they design a massive inventory of billions of manufactured-end-products, wrap them ready to be distributed during the peak season of Christmas Eve.
The Warehouse Management – Santa has total control over his manufacturing processes, achieving tremendous cost reduction when scale-purchasing, allocated in a single warehouse location well-known as Santa's Workshop.
Transportation – Santa's big challenge is visiting customers in such a short time, by driving his fleet of sleigh and rein-deer efficiently; there will be no issues at border crossings or rush-hours traffic on earth since Santa means magic!
Financial strategies - Santa's corporation has tax benefits such as exempt from all government taxes and regulations due to its location at the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean, which does not belong to any country, so, considered as an 'International Territory.'
Automation - Because Santa deployed in advance a trade management software, he can better predict delivery at destination markets, significantly contributing to high-client-satisfaction levels. He is considering to implement Blockchain technology shortly to avoid cyberattacks.
Facts to understand Santa's communication with children in a magical world
How fast does Santa's sleigh go? Approx 3,000 times the speed of sound to cover the transportation route that visits 822 homes per second. However, he ponders the preservation of the environment through the sustainable use of what Nature give us, sleighs and reindeers to carrying not only the weight of those millions Christmas gifts but Santa's overweight too!
How does Santa reduce Supply Chain Risk? According to worldwide tradition, Santa flights are lightening up by the glow of Rudolph's nose, maybe possible working with clean energies. With no need for fuel or leaving behind a carbon footprint.
How is it possible that reindeers fly? For a robust animal like this, flying has to do with Food Chains providing healthy-magical oats and corn to allow them to jump high and start flying into the air (the kind of extraordinary powers superheroes have.) In doing so, Santa joins forces with others to better social health and climate sustainability as well.
How does Santa fit everything in his bag? We cannot answer this question as is one of Santa's dearest secret. We only know it is Santa's most extraordinary capability in Supply Chain Management strategies. Experts said that he has the power to shrinking presents at his will, and only when they are delivered, they surprisingly get growing before children dashing towards the Christmas tree of each home.
How old is Santa? It is for our children to answer, as he is their most-dearest-old friend so anxiously expected in Christmas Eve.
Were you lucky enough to see him even once?
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