Effective Distribution Strategies

Scenario Description

You are the new Warehouse Manager for Wonderful Widgets. The company produces one product, widgets, but has several customers located domestically and internationally.

The Problem

Corporate has informed you over the last 12 months, the company has incurred increased costs, increased variability, and decreased customer satisfaction (lost sales).

Additional Information

Due to this new information, you are responsible for making all decisions pertaining to product distribution. You are the person accountable for the increase in costs, variability, and customer satisfaction. The company has warehouses located across the United States.

Decision Point

Your task is to determine which distribution strategy is optimum for the company to reduce costs, variability, and increase customer satisfaction. You must decide which strategy is best for the company based on the information given below.

· Centralized Management (This is my choice as the best strategy)

· Cross-Docking

· Transshipping

Your Task:

Your task is to determine which distribution strategy is best for the company.

Choose a solution and in one paragraphs make a clear and specific recommendation based on the readings in the class so far.

In a second paragraph, describe how the company can implement your recommendation. Write your recommendation/implementation in third person.

Include a cover page.

At the end, discuss the questions that are presented below.

Answer the following questions:

What did you find challenging in completing the scenario (i.e., information network layout, etc.)?

How does this additional information factor into effective distribution strategies?

Provide your response by uploading a Word document. Use this format:

Recommendation for Distribution Strategy

Implementation

Questions