Sometimes you learn about new ideas that are so logical that you think by yourself: why did I not come up with this myself?
Recently I heard about a new app that enables you to pay for your visit to an amusement park, based on the time spent in the park. So as a visitor you no longer pay a fixed fee – which in the past forced you to spend the whole day there with the family. In case you do want to stay longer after all, you never pay more than the daily rate. Isn’t that logical ?
For the amusement parks this app is an opportunity to attract a new audience. In addition, the app will take care of the payment afterwards, reducing rows at the cash registers. On top of that, the app also enables “dynamic pricing” of a visit to the amusement park, just as already happens with airline tickets. For example, a visit during the quiet morning hours would be cheaper than a visit in the afternoon. This enables a higher utilization of the attractions in the park, and reduces waiting times for the visitors.
This kind of innovations enables a better synchronization of the demand with the (fixed) capacity; a fine example of the Demand Driven Supply Chain Management concept, in which reducing variation in required capacity is one of the leading principles.
While dynamic pricing through the new app probably works well for streamlining the logistics of visitors in theme parks, other industries often require different solutions. Which innovation is going to support the synchronization of demand and capacity in your supply chain, to become more ‘demand driven’?
To help you achieve your own DDSCM improvement strategy and solutions, we have developed the DDSCM Wheel of Five for you. The Wheel of Five contains five complementary guidelines for selecting the right supply chain initiatives.
