1. Explain the difference between sell-from-stock and configure-to-order strategiesSell-from-stock is when a company sells products directly from their finished goods or inventory to their customers. Configure-to-order is when the supplying company has a base product and the customer can customize that product, to some extent, to fit their needs. Configure-to-order is generally in high cost low volume industries like office furniture, construction equipment, etc.
2. Explain the key steps in a basic fulfillment process?The fulfillment process normally starts with a customer sending an inquiry to the supplier. The supplier then follows that up by sending a quotation to the customer and if the customer wants to commit to purchase they send back a purchase order. Then the sales department at the supplier creates a sales order and distributes that internally through the company. The warehouse takes the sales order and creates a shipment and sends it out to the customer. The accounting department is notified about the shipment and sends out an invoice.
Finally, the customer (hopefully) sends a check and the accounting department processes it and the sale is complete. 3. Draw a conceptual framework for an enterprise systems in fulfillment process.
