"The name of this software, I plan to call it SMS for short, that is, supermarket management software, its main function is to monitor the storage of goods in the warehouse, the storage of goods in each independent supermarket, and then according to the security value we entered, to develop a set of storage at the lowest cost." In a large conference room on the ninth floor of Costco's headquarters, Chen Zhiwen stood in front of the stage and explained the most basic functions of enterprise management software in later generations.

"So how do you determine this most basic amount of storage?" Woz, who was sitting in the front, said.

Chen Zhiwen said: "This is not a technical problem, but the experience of supermarket operation, the sales speed of any product is not the same, so in the early stage, we need the operation staff to define this storage capacity with their own experience, but any experience can actually be analyzed into data, such as an egg, basically many people will need him every few days, then it has an average consumption rate, this data, as long as it can be obtained through daily observation, in fact, this kind of common goods, large supermarkets will pay attention to, But manpower is limited, basically only a few items can be done, and what we have to do is to monitor all items.

At the same time, it is also necessary to take into account that some goods are seasonal, so it needs to be changed according to the actual situation, SMS should have the corresponding permission setting function, and the person in charge of the supermarket will decide the amount of each alarm. ”

"It's not difficult, but how to transfer data between various branches, logistics centers and headquarters?" Woz asked.

"You can use satellites, but the cost is a little higher, but as long as I really need it, then I will invest this money." Chen Zhiwen said that the cost of satellites in this era is really super expensive, otherwise, in the original history, Wal-Mart in the mid-80s would not have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to launch its own satellites. The more data there is, the more expensive the satellite is, so expensive that even Walmart in the high-speed growth period can't afford it.

Costco now has a lot less data, both in terms of the number of its own stores and the SKUs (in-store assortments within the supermarket) of warehouse supermarkets, which are much less than normal supermarkets such as Walmart, which makes the relative cost much better.

"In fact, in the early days, it was not necessary to use satellites." Pierce took over the topic and said: "Although there is a lot of data in the supermarket, it is the simplest bytes, a floppy disk can easily put down the data of a supermarket, Costco now only has a dozen supermarkets, and the farthest distance is only more than 300 miles, you can drive the floppy disk to the headquarters, or the delivery driver is responsible for sending the floppy disk back to the headquarters." ”

"It's okay, but it's not possible to monitor it in real time." Woz nodded.

"In fact, it doesn't matter if it can be real-time, it doesn't matter if it's not very accurate, the error is not more than 1%, I just need to know a relatively accurate data, not absolutely accurate." Pierce said with a smile.

Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "This point does not need to be paid too much attention now, and when we need it in the future, we will naturally invest in satellites, and even we can launch satellites ourselves." ”

Cost optimization, it is true that it can not be achieved overnight, always step by step, it is indeed difficult to pursue absolute accuracy at the beginning, even in the future 5G era, many companies have the most complete ERP management software, the internal data is still very messy, this is not a problem of signal transmission, but a variety of management problems, since there are shortcomings in other aspects, there is no need to require the software to be completely accurate.

In the future, when Costco has enough quantity, the company has enough profits, and the signal transmission urgently needs satellite transmission, it will naturally go to the satellite, and even launch the satellite itself, because a lot of core data is better in their own hands.

"What about the future East Coast branch?" Wadsz asked again.

"Let's get together, let's say, New York, and then have a guy planes back to Los Angeles, or also do a data headquarters on the East Coast that handles data on the East Coast." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

In the 21st century, in Europe, such a small country, online shopping for a product, half a month to send it is the norm, and then it was not until Amazon began to invest heavily in logistics that it was slightly better.

If SF Express can move its efficiency to Europe and the United States, it will definitely be able to complete the absolute monopoly.

Now, express delivery is even more difficult to describe, want to the fastest delivery of important documents, the fastest way is to go on the person in person, there is also a method of fax, but it is not suitable for the transmission of a large amount of electronic data.

"Then let's try it first." Woz nodded.

"If it doesn't work in the future, I'll go to the satellite." Chen Zhiwen continued: "The second use of SMS is to collect big data, and use software to calculate what kind of route is most suitable for us to take when delivering goods to different supermarkets, and to calculate the most time-saving and cost-saving logistics cost method in the fastest way." ”

The main operating cost of the supermarket, logistics is absolutely the top priority, a large number of items from the supplier to the logistics center, and then by the logistics center to the supermarket branches, the needs of each supermarket are different every day, so how to arrange different goods on the car, a car to which supermarkets, which one to go to first and then to which one.

When there are several supermarkets, you can still calculate it by manpower, but when the number of supermarkets is more and the location is more, the data will increase exponentially, which is not at all human power can be calculated, which is why the gross profit margin of supermarkets is very high now, because it is not high, and the storage and logistics costs are too high.

If you want to optimize logistics costs, the only way at present is to increase a lot of manpower, but the United States has high labor costs, recruiting too many people and it is not cost-effective, so you can only turn a blind eye and directly count these high costs caused by too late calculations into the company's operations.

"This kind of calculation would be very interesting, and I guess it would require a supercomputer with very high computing power to be able to react quickly." Woxz thought for a moment and said.

"So we will also buy supercomputing, and the main problem is the algorithm." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, although the current supercomputing is often millions of dollars, and the computing power is not as good as an ordinary computer in a few decades, it is indeed the ultimate in current scientific and technological capabilities.

"This algorithm should be divided into two parts, the first is to determine the fastest route according to the location of each destination, if there is no map, I can only input the distance between each store, and then convert, the second is to calculate the required transport vehicle according to the size of all commodity boxes, the latter one is not difficult, the first one may take a certain amount of time to develop." Wadsz said as he drew something in his notebook.

"Professional things, I don't ask, what I can do is to put forward my requirements, the terminal retail cost of the supermarket, Costco has dropped to a very low level, and the rest is the intermediate transportation cost and a large number of storage costs, as long as this problem is solved, then we can be regarded as able to gain a firm foothold in the retail field for a long time." Chen Zhiwen said solemnly.

(End of chapter)