In Wings and Legs case delivery times are short and delivery reliability needs to be consistently high (99%). Although demand is currently unpredictable the odds are the retailers have point of sale data which could and should be shared with Legs and Wings. Better co-operation would be beneficial and open up possibilities for longer lead times. As noted in the case study, Wings and Legs have a large diversity of products, originating from differences in packaging size, labels and brands. The best before date adds to the specificity in two ways. First of all because the best before date is a technical safety limit to sell the product, and secondly because retailers do not accept the same best before date on subsequent deliveries. As such the commercial best before date is much shorter than the technical best before date suggests.
Stock Characteristics
The case study mentions that although quality is controlled variations can occur. …
