Distribution And Transportation Planning And Scheduling

Abstract

Chapter 4 explores hierarchical planning and scheduling activities and techniques for two integral components of the supply chain; namely, distribution and transportation. As in Chapter 3, we again assume that fundamental decisions regarding the planning and utilization of the network have been developed in an integrated manufacturing and distribution approach (using methods such as those considered in Chapters 1 and 2), and the firm’s attention in this chapter turns more towards stand-alone distribution and transportation questions. Further, in making this assumption, it is important to note that in real world practice, many firms do not employ a true “integrated” manufacturing and distribution approach in the planning of a network’s infrastructure or in the execution of a network’s operations.’ Instead, manufacturing and distribution often develop and execute their strategies as relatively stand-alone functional entities. For many planning problems and decisions, this represents an appropriate decomposition approach that simplifies a complex set of issues or decisions into a more manageable subset. In other cases, this approach can have significant, undesirable ramifications for a firm, and the myriad reasons why such practices occur could by themselves form the basis for a book. For the purposes of this chapter, however, we simply want to recognize that manufacturing and distribution network planning decisions do not always take place in an integrated approach, and that firms often make strategic distribution infrastructure decisions in isolation. Further, in this chapter, we will provide several examples to illustrate the types of strategic distribution and transportation decisions that firms typically can effectively make in a relatively stand-alone environment.