Cartier uses the Just In Time Lean Operations method to maximise the value for its customers while reducing its waste. Cartier aimes to reducing flow times within production systems and its response time to its customers. As Cartier is a luxury brand, it takes time to deliver a product, especially for jewellery, therefore a good forecasting is essential.

Cartier is based on continual progress, improvements from all employees, suppliers and managers, from the beginning to the end of the value chain. Cartier is part of the Richemont group and therefore part of the same corporate responsibility: "our overarching CSR strategy supports our vision to create long-term value for our business and wider society, while preserving our heritage in quality, craftsmanship and innovation.The article explains how important it is for Cartier to have responsible practices.

Customer experience is at the core of Cartier's strategy. The firm was ranked as the 6th brand in Consumer Experience by the Human Consulting Group in 2014 for luxury brands.Cartier always tries to amaze its customers and to reach the WOW effect. As a luxury brand, Cartier has to differentiate itself from the competitors with its in-store experience, personalisation and its focus on innovation. The WOW effect obtained by Cartier builds value for the customers. Furthermore, Cartier is customer-centric oriented. The brand always put its customers in the center of every decision and define its core values as: “Make the journey less of a process and more of an experience”.

As a WOW effect example, in winter Cartier put some efforts in the decoration of its shop windows: it becomes the "winter tale" of Cartier and even though each year it is the same idea, it always amaze the customers.

As the CEO, Cyrille Vigneron, said “the more high-end watches are, the more they sell”. Therefore, he promotes personnalisation through special offer. The firm allows consumers to meet with Cartier’s artisan, to create their own model or modify an existing model to be sure to meet consumers’ expectations. As we know, satisfaction is a very important component of the customer experience, and Cartier is always pushing more to exceed expectations.Furthermore, Cartier is an omnichannel company, which help the customer to always be connected and to facilitate its interactions with the brand.

Cartier is an innovative brand that tries to find new ways to reach its customers. Since a couple of years it tries to focus on a new customer segment: younger wealthy people. Cartier tend to be seen as a luxury brand for people over 50 years old; by focusing on innovation, new affordable products, such as the "trinity cord bracelet", or famous bloggers, Cartier is refreshing its brand image.

The article explains how Cartier is putting efforts in finding new ways to reach its customers by partnering with Wire Stone. The two videos are examples of innovation and improvement to connect with its customers.

Cartier stresses how important it is to embrace women and shows some initiative ways to prove it. The short video explains what the project actually consists of.

Total Quality Management guarantees long-term success customer satisfaction. All members of the organization participate in improving processes, products and the culture in which they work.This continuous improvement is very well implemented at Cartier.We can also say that Cartier implement a Kaizen approach. Indeed, all employees are proactive and work together to reach the same goal. Cartier is always looking for improvement; by combining its talents, making some teamwork efforts and having an open-mindset for suggestions, Cartier is doing better over the years.For example, Cartier made a survey among its employees to ask what should be done in the future. Most of them responded that they wanted to see different brand ambassadors, to whom they could identify themselves. The marketing team succeed and promote the new Santos with Jake Gyllenhaal as the icon (as seen on the video).

As the assemblage, the product tests and the quality check take a lot of time for each Cartier piece, the last control and the shipping cannot be long. Therefore, when everything is ready, the watches and jewelleries are send to the inspection center at Cartier Manufacturing. There, they are examined for the last time, put into their box, and send it to the shops in less than a day. Everything is very structured to waste as less time as possible.Furthermore, Cartier does not want to have too much inventory. Therefore, they produce just what they plan to sell. The stock management has to be checked and controlled very often, by the Forecast and Supply Chain Manager. Indeed, forecasting is key for a luxury brand; raw materials are very costly and some pieces are unique. Cartier has to be sure it will sell the high jewellery before producing it.

Cartier only thrives to deliver the best service."With a network of 300-plus boutiques, Cartier’s retail environment is a top priority. Cartier’s brand leaders recognize that allowing customers to be fully immersed within the Cartier world drives both loyalty and demand"The full article can be found next to the image.

After reviewing this Mind Map, I think we can better understand Cartier's core value: “Make the journey less of a process and more of an experience”. The firm focuses on only the best, for its employees and its customers.To differentiate yourself from your competitors you have be innovative, provide an excellent service and overcome the expectations of your customers.To sump up, Cartier is a good example as a good supply chain and operations company. It successfully deliver outstanding products and services, while respecting the environment and supporting innovative projects.As I have done two different internships with Cartier already, I can confirm that the company is customer-centric oriented, tries to innovate as much as it can and reduces its waste to the minimum. I really enjoyed working there and would love to go back in the future.