Santa’s supply chain - planning for Christmas 2018

And so, with all the gifts unwrapped and the holidays behind us, the world has emerged blinking into the bright light of January. 

Santa's returned to the North Pole after a post-Christmas break in sunny Bora Bora, and he’s keen to get back to business.

The Big Man calls a meeting with the elves. They get together to review what was delivered, what went well, and what part of their supply chain needs improvement. 

With forecasting for 2018 already completed, Santa challenges his team to come up with ideas to improve logistics in the North Pole.  

There are certainly some hurdles to overcome:

• Global population will increase by around 80 million, and with it, demand.
• Sourcing and manufacturing is getting tighter, more competitive. If he’s not careful, parents of the world will bypass him completely on their way to Amazon.
• Children today just expect more.

It’s important to get this right. 

Santa’s already facing a potential loss of confidence as kids the world over are growing skeptical about this whole Santa Claus thing. 

Let’s face it, the Tooth Fairy has practically gone the way of the dinosaurs, and it’s clear that the Easter Bunny is under threat….

And so the elves put their heads (and pointy ears) together and come up with some ideas around process automation.  Crunching the numbers exposes a real need to automate the ‘order’ demand into the ERP (Elf Resource Planning). Getting all those ‘Dear Santa’ letters into the ERP faster is critical if they want to improve the whole logistics and supply chain. The elves decide a sales order entry automation tool is exactly what they need.

Getting their OTC (Order to Christmas) processes right could change the game.

Of course, a few of the elves express reservations at first – could this be the Grinch playing tricks again?…. But on review, they realise that robots are in fact NOT coming for their jobs. Having been freed up from the drudgery of order entry, the elves will be able to spend more time improving service, quality, and focusing on their CS (Children Satisfaction) scores – a key KPI for every elf.