Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Transportation refers to the movement of product from one location to another as it makes its way
from the beginning of a supply chain to the customer. Transportation is an important supply chain
driver because products are rarely produced and consumed in the same l9cation. Transportation is a
significant component of the costs incurred by most supply chains.
The shipper is the party that requires the movement of the product between two points in the
supply chain. The carrier is the party that moves or transports the product. A carrier makes
investment decisions regarding the transportation equipment (locomotives, trucks, airplanes, etc.)
and in some cases infrastructure (rail), and then makes operating decisions to try to maximize the
return from these assets. A shipper, in contrast, uses transportation to minimize the total cost
(transportation, inventory, information, sourcing, and facility) while providing an appropriate level of
responsiveness to the customer.
Package Carriers: Package carriers are transportation companies such as FedEx, UPS, and the U.S.
Postal Service, which carry small packages ranging from letters to shipments weighing about 150
pounds.
Expensive and cannot compete with LTL carriers on price for large shipments. T
Rapid and reliable delivery- used for time sensitive products
Provide other value-added services, allow shippers to speed inventory flow and track order
status.
Package carriers are the preferred mode of transport for e-businesses
Key issues in this industry include the location and capacity of transfer points as well as information
capability to facilitate and track package flow.
Truck: The trucking industry consists of two major segments- TL or LTL
More expensive than rail but offers the advantage of door-to-door shipment and a shorter
delivery time.
Requires no transfer between pickup and-delivery and have low relatively low fixed costs
LTL shipments take longer than TL shipments because of other loads that need to be picked
up and dropped off.
A key to reducing LTL costs is the degree of consolidation
Key issues for the LTL industry include location of consolidation centres, assigning of loads to
trucks, and scheduling and routing of pickup and delivery.
Rail:
Incur a high fixed cost in terms of rails, locomotives, cars, and yards.
Significant trip-related labour and fuel cost, independent of the number of cars but does
vary with the distance travelled and the time taken.
The price structure and the heavy load capability makes rail an ideal mode for carrying large,
heavy, or high-density products over long distances
Transportation time by rail can be long. Ideal for very heavy, low-value shipments that are
not very time sensitive.
Water:
Water transport is ideally suited for carrying very large loads at low cost.
Difficult to operate for short-haul trips.
Delays at ports, customs, security, and the management of containers used are major issues
in global shipping
Intermodal: Intermodal transportation is the use of more than one mode of transport to move a
shipment to its destination. On land, the rail/truck intermodal system offers the benefit of lower
cost than TL and delivery times that are better than rail, thereby bringing together different modes
of transport to create a price/service offering that cannot be matched by any single mode.
Key issues involve the exchange of information to facilitate shipment transfers between
different modes because these transfers often involve considerable delays, hurting delivery
time performance.
The buyer structures his transportation network so that all shipments come directly from
each supplier to each buyer location
The routing of each shipment is specified and the supply chain manager only needs to decide
on the quantity to ship and the mode of transportation to use. (trade off between
transportation and inventory costs)
Used if demand at buyer locations is large enough
Advantage:
Advantage:
DCs can help reduce supply chain costs when suppliers are located far from the buyer
locations and transportation costs are high.
Allows a supply chain to achieve economies of scale for inbound transportation to a point
close to the final destination, because each supplier sends a large shipment to the DC that
contains product for all locations the DC serves.
Because DCs serve locations nearby, the outbound transportation cost is not very large.
Cross docking at DCs help to reduce inventory and saves handling costs. (Used for products
with large, predictable demands)
Tailored Network
Here transportation uses a combination of cross-docking, milk runs, and TL and LTL carriers, along
with package carriers in some cases.
Requires significant investment in information infrastructure to facilitate the coordination.
Advantage:
Allows for the selective use of a shipment method to minimize the transportation as well as
inventory costs.
Pros
No intermediate warehouse
Simple to coordinate
Cons
High inventories (due to large lot
size)
Significant receiving expense
Increased coordination
complexity
Increased inventory cost
Increased handling at DC
Increased coordination
complexity
Tailored network
Short Distance
Private fleet with milk runs
Third-party milk runs
Third-party milk runs or LTL
carrier
Medium Distance
Cross-dock with milk runs
LTL carrier
LTL or package carrier
Long Distance
Cross-dock with milk runs
LTL or package carrier
Package carrier
Low Demand
High Value
Disaggregate cycle inventory. Aggregate safety
inventory. Inexpensive mode of transportation
for replenishing cycle inventory and fast
mode when using safety inventory.
Aggregate all inventories. If needed, use fast
mode of transportation for filling customer
orders.
Low Value
Disaggregate all inventories and use
inexpensive mode of transportation for
replenishment.
Aggregate only safety inventory. Use
inexpensive mode of transportation for
replenishing cycle inventory.
Distribution Networks
Distribution refers to the steps taken to move and store a product from the supplier stage to a
customer stage in the supply chain. Distribution is a key driver of the overall profitability of a firm
because it affects both the supply chain cost and the customer experience directly.
Decrease in the response time customers desire increases the number of facilities required
in the network.
As the number of facilities in a supply chain increases, the inventory and resulting inventory
costs also increase
If the number of facilities is increased to a point where inbound lot sizes are also very small
and result in a significant loss of economies of scale in inbound transportation, increasing
the number of facilities increases total transportation cost.
Facility costs decrease as the number of facilities is reduced
As the number of facilities increases, total logistics costs first decrease and then increase
Cost Factor
Performance
Inventory
Lower costs because of aggregation. Benefits of aggregation are highest for low-demand,
high-value items. Benefits are very large if product customization can be postponed at
the manufacturer.
Higher transportation costs because of increased distance and disaggregate shipping.
Lower facility costs because of aggregation. Some saving on handling costs if
manufacturer can manage small shipments or ship
from production line.
Significant investment in information infrastructure to integrate manufacturer and
retailer.
Transportation
Facilities and
handling
Information
Service Factor
Response time
Product variety
Product availability
Customer
experience
Time to market
Order visibility
Returnability
Performance
Long response time of one to two weeks because of increased distance and two
stages for order processing. Response time may vary by product, thus complicating
receiving
Easy to provide a very high level of variety.
Easy to provide a high level of product availability because of aggregation at
manufacturer.
Good in terms of home delivery but can suffer if order from several manufacturers is
sent as partial shipments
Fast, with the product available as soon as the first unit is produced
More difficult but also more important from a customer service perspective.
Expensive and difficult to implement
Cost Factor
Performance
Inventory
Similar to drop-shipping.
Transportation
Facilities and
handling
Information
Service Factor
Response time
Product variety
Product availability
Customer
experience
Time to market
Order visibility
Returnability
Performance
Similar to drop-shipping; may be marginally higher.
Similar to drop-shipping
Similar to drop-shipping
Better than drop-shipping because a single delivery has to be received.
Similar to drop-shipping
Similar to drop-shipping
Similar to drop-shipping
Suitable for medium- to fast moving items and when customers want delivery faster than is
offered by manufacturer storage but do not need it immediately.
Cost Factor
Performance
Inventory
Higher than manufacturer storage. Difference is not large for faster-moving items.
Transportation
Facilities and
handling
Information
Service Factor
Response time
Product variety
Product availability
Customer
experience
Time to market
Order visibility
Returnability
Performance
Faster than manufacturer storage.
Lower than manufacturer storage
Higher cost to provide the same level of availability as manufacturer storage.
Better than manufacturer storage with drop-shipping
Higher than manufacturer storage.
Easier than manufacturer storage.
Easier than manufacturer storage.
Can only be justified if there is a large customer segment willing to pay for this convenience.
Hence, used if customer orders are large enough to provide economies of scale.
Cost Factor
Performance
Inventory
Transportation
Very high cost given minimal scale economies. Higher than any
other distribution option
Facility costs higher than manufacturer storage or distributor
storage with package carrier delivery, but lower than a chain
of retail stores.
Similar to distributor storage with package carrier delivery
Facilities and
handling
Information
Service Factor
Response time
Product variety
Product availability
Customer
experience
Time to market
Order visibility
Returnability
Performance
Very quick. Same day to next-day delivery.
Somewhat less than distributor storage with package carrier delivery but larger than
retail stores.
More expensive to provide availability than any other option except retail stores.
Very good, particularly for bulky items
Slightly higher than distributor storage with package carrier delivery.
Less of an issue and easier to implement than manufacturer storage or distributor
storage with package carrier delivery
Easier to implement than other options. Harder and more
expensive than a retail network
Such a network is likely to be most effective if existing locations such as coffee shops,
convenience stores, or grocery stores are used as pickup sites, because this type of network
improves the economies from existing infrastructure.
Cost Factor
Performance
Inventory
Transportation
Facilities and
handling
Information
Lower than the use of package carriers, especially if using an existing delivery network.
Facility costs can be very high if new facilities have to be built. Costs are lower if existing
facilities are used. The increase in handling cost at the pickup site can be significant.
Significant investment in infrastructure required
Service Factor
Response time
Product variety
Product availability
Customer
experience
Time to market
Order visibility
Returnability
Performance
Similar to package carrier delivery with manufacturer or distributor storage. Sameday delivery possible for items stored locally at pickup site.
Similar to other manufacturer or distributor storage options.
Similar to other manufacturer or distributor storage options..
Lower than other options because of the lack of home delivery. In areas with high
density of population, loss of convenience may be small.
Similar to manufacturer storage options
Difficult but essential
Somewhat easier given that pickup location can handle returns
Suitable for fast-moving items or items for which customers value rapid response.
Cost Factor
Performance
Inventory
Transportation
Facilities and
handling
Information
Service Factor
Response time
Product variety
Product availability
Customer
experience
Time to market
Order visibility
Returnability
Performance
Same-day (immediate) pickup possible for items stored locally at pickup site.
Lower than all other options.
More expensive to provide than all other options
Related to whether shopping is viewed as a positive or negative experience by
customer.
Highest among distribution options
Trivial for in-store orders. Difficult, but essential, for online and phone orders
Easier than other options given that pickup location can handle returns.