Strategic Logistics Management

Chapter 10
Annotated Links

Warehousing

http://www.wec.org

WERC is the Warehousing Education and Research Council and is an association of distribution professionals. Students may log on to this site to discover the latest in practitioner and scholarly state-of-art practices.

http://www.warehouselogistics.org

The IWLA is the International Warehouse Logistics Organization. This site leads the reader through a variety of issues cogent to warehousing and adding value to the firm through the efficient and effective use of warehousing strategies and tactics

http://www.findwarehousing.com/index.htm

This web page features searchable databases on contract warehousing, public warehousing and warehouses. The authors discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each, along with strategies the firm may employ in deriving economies of scale and scope and efficiencies in the supply chain through the warehousing decision.

http://www.strategy-business.com/bestpractice/99403/page3.html

About 85 percent of all the merchandise that Wal-Mart sold is shipped through its distribution system to the stores (competitors averaged less than 50 percent). Wal-Mart uses a "saturation" strategy for store expansion. The standard is to be able to drive to a store within a day from a distribution center. A distribution center is strategically placed so that it could eventually serve between 150 and 200 Wal-Mart stores are within a day. The company owns a fleet of more than 3,000 trucks and 12,000 trailers (most competitors outsourced trucking). Wal-Mart's distribution and logistics infrastructure saves transportation costs (2 percent to 3 percent cost advantage relative to competitors), increased flexibility, insured 100% in-stock position and increased store selling space (by reducing the space required for back-room inventory storage). Wal-Mart accomplishes this through a warehousing strategy called cross docking, which is reviewed in this web site.

http://www.porsche.com/default.htm

The authors present how Porsche AG of Germany operates its North American warehousing with advanced technology. This website enables the student to learn more about Porsche’s logistics and warehousing operations.