Framework for selection of distribution strategies

When a company grows rapidly, the existing infrastructure of the supply chain system set up long ago, faces an increasing pressure to meet new challenges and needs to be restructured. A seasonal seed manufacturing company, such as Seed Corp, has only five months of manufacturing time in the Fall each year. Customers usually do not want the seed delivery until Spring. Such companies face a tremendous pressure to find space to store their products during the manufacturing peak season. Companies must search for good strategies to meet these challenges. This thesis assesses the framework for selection of distribution strategies, reviews the these strategies, and analyzes the benefits and challenges among them. This research analyzes trade-offs between centralized and decentralized distribution systems, as well as between service level and cost. The analysis focuses on the response time and total cost for four distribution options. We have chosen Seed Corp as a case study. As the result of the research, the thesis suggests distribution strategies to meet the company's supply chain challenges. Finally, we recommend the further areas that need to be explored.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Li, Chunlin, M. Eng. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Chris Caplice.

• Engineering Systems Division.

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/1721.1/45222

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/45222