Key Decisions in OM

Abstract

Woolworths has recently invested in a very large distribution centre near Minchinbury in New South Wales, just near Sydney, through which it will receive, distribute and ‘move to store’ over 300,000 cases per day of many of its 20,000 items that it sells in some 700 stores. What happens at this distribution centre? In essence, thousands of pallets of groceries are delivered daily by dozens of large trucks from hundreds of suppliers, which must be stored (for as little time as possible), and sent in the right volumes in a timely manner to the stores that require them, in order to meet the demands of those stores' customers.