Problem:
Abstract: It didn't take long for Lawrence R. Johnston, then the chief executive of GE Appliances, to realize that Albertsons, the nation's second-largest grocery chain, was the opportunity he had been waiting for. The folksy, family-owned grocery chain that Joe Albertson started in Boise, Idaho, in 1939 had become a $35 billion dysfunctional mess. The company had botched the integration of its 1999 merger with American Stores Co. Johnston came to Albertsons in April, 2001, with an idea or 2 about how to tackle the company's problems. First, was to make it operate more efficiently. Johnston is cutting about $1 billion in costs while spending another billion to upgrade technology - from the supply and distribution system to self-checkout stands. He closed 500 unprofitable stores. And he has introduced a new managerial and financial discipline, including Six Sigma, to the 230,000 employees.
If you were the new CEO of the second largest supermarket chain, how could you use supply chain integration to be more efficient and profitable?