By 2004, the supply chain system at Amazon was a critical factor in its success. Jef-frey Wilke, Senior VP of worldwide operations, observed that “When we think about how
we’re going to grow our company, we focus on price, selection, and availability. All three de-pend critically on the supply chain” [Bacheldor 2004]. Almost the entire system was built
from scratch, customized to Amazon’s needs. When a customer places an order, the system
immediately connects to the distribution centers, determines the best way to ship the prod-uct, and provides the details to the customer in under two minutes. The entire process is
automatic.