Reducing total fulfillment at costs at Amazon EU through network design optimization

A key supply chain management issue encountered by any business requiring a distribution system is in designing its distribution network. A distribution network configuration has both direct and indirect ongoing effects on how a firm operates influencing everything from supplier relationships and contracts to customer interface. A configuration affects both day-to-day operational and longer range strategic and tactical decision-making. From a pure cost perspective, a configuration has a significant impact on total fulfillment costs. The effects of network configuration as well as the challenges and value behind the application of network design optimization techniques are well-illustrated by my 6-month experience working for the largest online retail distributor, Amazon.com, in their European (EU) operations. This paper further documents the process followed in identifying areas for improvement in Amazon's current EU fulfillment networks for the purpose of enabling total fulfillment cost reduction. The challenges and results from my experience are similarly included.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Merriam, Ken (Ken A.)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Donald Rosenfield and David Simchi-Levi.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.
• Sloan School of Management.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39288

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39288