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Digital Library of the
European Council for Modelling and Simulation |
Title: |
Improving The Distribution Planning Process In The Food&Beverage
Industry: An Empirical Case Study |
Authors: |
Andrea Bacchetti, Massimo Zanardini |
Published in: |
(2014).ECMS 2014 Proceedings edited
by: Flaminio Squazzoni,
Fabio Baronio, Claudia Archetti,
Marco Castellani European Council for
Modeling and Simulation. doi:10.7148/2014 ISBN:
978-0-9564944-8-1 28th
European Conference on Modelling and Simulation, Brescia,
Italy, May 27th – 30th,
2014 |
Citation
format: |
Andrea
Bacchetti, Massimo Zanardini
(2014). Improving The Distribution Planning Process
In The Food&Beverage Industry: An Empirical
Case Study, ECMS 2014 Proceedings edited by: Flaminio
Squazzoni, Fabio Baronio,
Claudia Archetti, Marco Castellani European
Council for Modeling and Simulation. doi:10.7148/2014-0431 |
DOI: |
http://dx.doi.org/10.7148/2014-0431 |
Abstract: |
The distribution planning process is
one of the phases of the broader logistics and production planning process for
almost every company, and plays a pivotal role in the overall performances
(Lee and Kim, 2002; Bard and Nananukul, 2008). According to Chandra and Fisher (1994),
companies can treat this stage in a dual approach. In the first one the overall
planning process is considered as an indivisible entity: according to this
way several researchers (Glover et al., 1979; Cohen et al., 1988) proposed
models in order to coordinate production and distribution activities. In the
second approach, the company considers the distribution policy as an
independent stage of the entire planning process (for details, see Thomas and
Griffin, 1996). Such an approach is more frequently adopted in industry
(Chandra and Fisher, 1994). According to the “independent
approach”, this paper illustrates the results of an empirical study involving
a relevant food company operating in Italy. The aim of the study is to
investigate the distribution planning process, in order to identify the main
parameters that govern it, to analyse their impact
on the company’s performances and, finally, to propose some improvements, in
terms of costs reduction. According to these objectives, the study addressed,
through an intensive case study, two main aspects: (i)
the analysis of the company as-is context, encompassing the order process
management and the supply chain structure, and (ii) the development of a
simulation model that replicates the as-is context and proposes alternative
scenarios (to-be), following some ad-hoc optimization rules. Thanks to the simulations, we carried
out an optimal configuration for the process parameters, which guarantee,
along with the standardization of the order process management, significant
economics savings and increased effectiveness for the overall distribution planning
process. |
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