Abstract
This paper describes a depot location-allocation problem of a large food producer in Switzerland. After significant reductions in profitability during the last years, the firm aims to cut down production costs, personnel costs and distribution costs in order to strengthen its economic position again. Savings in distribution costs should be realized by closing some depots and reallocating customer zones. Furthermore, the management wanted to assess the potential savings which can be realized by outsourcing parts of the distribution activities. In order to answer these questions, the problem has been formulated as a discrete location problem. The paper discusses the used model, the derivation of the model parameters, and the analyses which have been performed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Erlenkotter, D. (1978): A Dual-Based Procedure for Uncapacitated Facility Location. Operations Research, 26:992–1009.
Fleischmann, B. (1979): Distributionsplanung. In: Gaede, K.-W. / Press-mar, D. B. / Schneeweiß, C. / Schuster, K.-P. / Seifert, O., editors, Proceedings in Operations Research, pp. 293–308. Physica-Verlag, Heidelberg.
Fleischmann, B. (1998): Design of Freight Traffic Networks. In: Fleischmann, B. / van Nunen, J. A. E. E. / Speranza, M. G. / Stähly, P., editors, Advances in Distribution Logistics, pp. 55–81. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.
Gelders, L. F. / Pintelon, L. M. / van Wassenhove, L. N. (1987): A Location-Allocation Problem in a Large Belgian Brewery. European Journal of Operational Research, 28:196–206.
Geoffrion, A. M. / Graves, G. W. (1974): Multicommodity Distribution System Design by Benders Decomposition. Management Science, 20:822–844.
Klose, A. (1995): A Comparison Between the Erlenkotter Algorithm and a Branch and Bound Algorithm Based on Subgradient Optimization to Solve the Uncapacitated Facility Location Problem. In: Derigs, U. / Bachern, A. / Drexl, A., editors, Operations Research Proceedings 1994, PP-335–339. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.
Klose, A. (1996): Using Clustering Methods in Problems of Combined Location and Routing. In: Kleinschmidt, P. / Bachern, A. / Derigs, U. / Fischer, D. / Leopold-Wildburger, U. / Möhring, R., editors, Operations Research Proceedings 1995, pp. 411–416. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.
Klose, A. (1998a): A Branch and Bound Algorithm for an Uncapacitated Facility Location Problem with a Side Constraint. International Transactions in Operational Research, 5:155–168.
Klose, A. / Stähly, P. (1998): Parametric Analysis of Fixed Costs in Uncapacitated Facility Location. In: Fleischmann, B. / van Nunen, J. A. E. E. / Speranza, M. G. / Stähly, P., editors, Advances in Distribution Logistics, pp. 215–240. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.
Klose, A. (1999a): An LP-Based Heuristic for Two-Stage Capacitated Facility Location Problems. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 50:157–166.
Klose, A. (1999b): A Lagrangean Relax-and-Cut Approach for the Two-Stage Capacitated Facility Location. To appear in European Journal of Operational Research.
Köksalan, M. / Süral, H. / Kirca, Ö. (1995): A Location-Distribution Application for a Beer Company. European Journal of Operational Research, 80:16–24.
Körkel, M. (1989): On the Exact Solution of Large-Scale Simple Plant Location Problems. European Journal of Operational Research, 39:157–173.
Krarup, J. / Pruzan, P. M. (1983): The Simple Plant Location Problem: Survey and Synthesis. European Journal of Operational Research, 12:36–81.
Kroon, L. / Romeijn, E. (1995): Integration of Strategic and Tactical Distribution Planning. Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Distribution Logistics (IWDL-2).
Tüshaus, U. / Wittmann, S. (1998): Strategic Logistic Planning by Means of Simple Plant Location: A Case Study. In: Fleischmann, B. / van Nunen, J. A. E. E. / Speranza, M. G. / Stähly, P., editors, Advances in Distribution Logistics, pp. 241–263. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Engeler, K., Klose, A., Stähly, P. (1999). A Depot Location-Allocation Problem of a Food Producer with an Outsourcing Option. In: Speranza, M.G., Stähly, P. (eds) New Trends in Distribution Logistics. Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, vol 480. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58568-5_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58568-5_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-66617-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-58568-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive