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The time has come, nearly, for Santa to gather up all of the presents that have been produced throughout the year and deliver them to billions of households across the world. He always carries out successful operations, no matter how large the world’s population seems to get, but how does he do it? Let’s delve into how he manages his supply chain.
How does Santa’s distribution facility operate?
Santa has complete control over his manufacturing as it’s all done in-house. His elves work tirelessly, day and night, to produce inventory rather than buy it all in. However, there might be some instances where Santa might have to outsource this, like turning to certain brands for deliveries.
Santa’s workshop and distribution facility is considered to be one of the largest manufacturing facilities in the world. Billions of end products are produced onsite and loaded up ready for delivery throughout the year. It takes a lot of dedication from Santa’s elves as well as a strong rapport between them both to be able to meet demand and make those tight deadlines.
How does Santa organise & manage the Naughty & Nice list?
Santa has specific technology these days that’ll help him to segment his naughty and nice list. His customer base consists of, more or less, around 7.8 billion people and it continues to grow. It would take a considerable amount of time and money to manually go through all of these records and segment them all without the help of technology.
Instead, Santa will use real-time visibility combined with predictive analysis, using cloud-based solutions, to segment his customer base into two pools: naughty and nice. You’ll be able to use state-of-the-art technology as well to be able to organise your customer base into different categories. Your categories could be anything, including, but not limited to, the following:
- Large scale supplies
- One off purchases
- Commercial customers
- Domestic customers
- Orders where age-verification is required upon delivery, such as alcohol or sharp objects, for example
Does ‘Elf & Safety’ exist in the North Pole?
Just like every warehousing and distribution company, Santa still has to make EH&S (Elf Health and Safety) a number one priority. The last thing he wants is for an elf to become injured and then sue him for damages. He also just wants to make sure his workforce is protected, from an ethical standpoint as much as anything else, much like other business owners around the world.
Santa has dedicated much of his time to making sure that IoT-enabled sensors are stitched into the elves’ uniforms. This, in turn, triggers the little bell attached to the ends of their hats, which will jingle if they get too close to a coworker or a piece of machinery. The North Pole might seem like a health and safety nightmare for most businesses, mainly because of the slippery, cold and wet weather conditions.
Santa, however, does have his own premises that’s heated, has double-glazed windows and fire doors fitted as standard. It’s well-insulated and has plenty of natural light streaming in. This will help to make his elves feel as comfortable and as content as possible while they’re at work. They won’t have to worry about working in poor lighting or being cold whilst they carry out their roles.
Santa will always provide the best, but also discrete, customer service
Santa isn’t seen by anyone when he delivers his presents. The only time he’s ever seen is when children are putting in their requests, sitting on his knee. But even then, he has a friendly, warm persona that, most children, find to be quite endearing and trusting. Granted, some kids find him to be quite a scary character, but Santa will always try his best to put his tiny customers at ease. This is part of his customer service skills.
Although we don’t see the jolly man in red over Christmas Eve night, he still, discreetly, delivers unrivalled customer service every single time, and it doesn’t run out, even when he reaches the one hundred millionth house. This is something that you should keep in mind when it comes to customer retention and even generation. When children come of a certain age, their parents will take them to see Santa. His customer base is ever growing and will, likely, never run dry. So how’s he doing it? Exceptional customer service, that’s how.
How does Santa manage his order processing?
Santa will, traditionally, take orders personally from children who visit his grotto in garden centres and shopping centres alike. Requests can be taken face-to-face or in the form of a letter addressed to the North Pole. But as we move into 2023, there’s more technology available to Santa now than there was twenty years ago.
These days, people will be able to make their requests via the internet. Santa is now on social media, including Facebook and Twitter. His handle is @Santa on each of those platforms, so children can now, under supervision of an adult, send their Christmas list to Santa electronically. You can even email him at santa@santclaus.com.
If your company isn’t making full use of what technology, and the internet, has to offer, then you should take a leaf out of Santa’s book and create a social media profile, even if it’s just on one platform. This way, more people will be able to make direct contact with you almost effortlessly.
Make it possible for people to place orders with you via this platform as opposed to requesting them to ring or email you. Potential customers are more likely to send you a quick message on Facebook or Twitter than send you a formal email, so bear this in mind if you’re looking to reach more people and make it as easy as possible for them to get in touch with you.
Warehouses these days will use Warehouse Management Systems (WMSs) to help with order processing and Santa is no different when it comes to this. When an order comes in, it’ll flash up on the WMS and those employed within your business will then have to use order picking equipment to retrieve the items as quickly as possible and pass them on for packaging and delivery. This is very similar to how Santa’s elves work, although they make the toys as well as pick and package them, ready for delivery on the big night.
Delivering to billions of people in 24 hours: Santa’s warehouse logistics
Warehouse logistics is most integral to Santa’s overall operations, especially during the Christmas period. Come Christmas Eve night, Santa will be delivering to billions of people across the world, within a window of just 31 hours, and he does so successfully every single year, but how?
He will have to deliver to 822 homes every single second. But he avoids travel disruptions and bottlenecks thanks to carefully-planned logistics surrounding the present delivery process. Thanks to his sleigh and ‘eight tiny reindeer’, he actually isn’t affected by the shipping crisis.
His unique mode of transport is not only eco-friendly, as it gives off zero emissions, but it’s also incredibly quick and has an impressive load capacity. In fact, if we assume that the average present weighs around 2lbs, then the sleigh itself should be able to take on 7.4 million tonnes before it starts reaching its maximum weight capacity.
Recently, Santa has been using certain pieces of technology, including weight sensors to make sure that the sleigh itself isn’t off balance or overloaded. He also has a team of dedicated elves deployed at different points across the globe who will be able to help should something break down, so he’ll always be on the go throughout Christmas Eve night and into the early hours of Christmas Day.
How does Santa ensure there’s always transportation available?
Transportation is an incredibly important part of warehousing and distribution. Where you might have the stock available and the orders coming in, if the right transportation isn’t available, then you won’t be able to get your sold inventory to where it needs to be. As a result, you could lose money in the long run as people become impatient and start demanding refunds as a result of slow delivery times.
Something that Santa does, that many warehouse owners will also do, is make sure that transportation is always readily available for each delivery personnel. Santa has embraced a certain amount of technology to make sure that his sleigh is always in working order and that his reindeer are at peak physical fitness.
His sleigh comes equipped with sensors to track his performance around the world, so he knows he’s executing his duties in good time. If something with the sleigh goes wrong, then a team of elves will be on hand, at various locations across the world, to perform maintenance and repairs. Each workshop will have all of the parts, components, tools and instructions needed to tackle any issue in quick time. This is something that you could do with your transportation.
Make sure that there are some points along the route your delivery drivers will often take where someone will be on hand to either repair the vehicle or provide a quick replacement. If your business is raking in the profits, then setting up bases across a typical route with the capabilities to do the aforementioned would be a worthwhile investment. Santa doesn’t miss a household and neither should your business.
Multy Lift has over three decades of experience in the material handling industry. With extensive knowledge and expertise to draw upon, you’ll always be able to count on our team of experts to provide you with the most ideal warehouse solution for you. From equipment hire to purchasing the machinery you need, you’ll always find what you’re looking for here at Multy Lift. For more information about our new and second-hand equipment available, including forklifts, reach trucks, order pickers and more, get in touch with a member of our dedicated, professional team today – we’re also proud to have warehouse equipment for hire, with either long or short-term contracts available.
