Beverage Industry Logistics

Designing the optimized distribution network for carbonated soft drink industry

Introduction

National and International businesses are becoming ever more dependent on logistics and supply chain management in order to keep pace with the demands of an increasingly global economy. This is why business leaders acknowledge that the supply chain can be a value creator and a source of competitive advantage.
Logistics management is defined according to The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (August, 2013) as “Logistics management is that part of supply chain management that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services, and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customer’s requirements.”

For any firm to achieve competitive advantage not only good performance of its supply chain is crucial but its logistics is vital too. More recently, logistics has become more prominent and is recognized as a critical factor in competitive advantage (Bowersox and Closs, 1996; Bowersox and Daugherty, 1995; Christopher, 1992).
Reduction in cycle times and inventory levels are the ultimate goals of any supply chain. Increased customer responsiveness is also is an important factor that has also become a supply chain’s ultimate goal. However, reduction in cycle times and inventory levels and increase in customer responsiveness are not possible without an efficient and optimal distribution. Optimal distribution plays a considerable role in each of these areas and enhances firm’s performance. Distribution also represents a large amount of logistics cost. For any successful firm to remain competitive, a firm should continue s...

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