The History Of Distrubution Managment

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

http://www.4hoteliers.com/features/article/6618

http://www.westminster.ac.uk/courses/subjects/business-and-management/postgraduate-courses/part-time-dayevening/p09mpscm-msc-purchasing-and-supply-chain-management

INTRODUCTION:

In today’s fluctuating business environment, the focus on delivering value to the customers at the least possible has increased. Hotel industry, big and as well as small must focus on how to offer best product while maintaining the cost as low. Today’s economic environment had affected the business worldwide, including the hotel companies (Brodsky, 2009). The travel and hotel industry accupancy rate is effected by reduced demand from the business sector ,corporate sector and leisure travel because of the global financial crisis and further the expenses on leisure activities such as holidays tend to be one of the first thing that consumers cut off in times of economic adversity.http://www.qfinance.com/sector-profiles/tourism-and-hotels

MGM Resort International, which owns a dozen properties in Las Vegas and 50000 employee workforce http://archive.org/details/tv?time=201201&q=nevada&fq=topic:%22florida%22 which represents 12% as the state’s biggest source of revenue (Mason, 2012). In 2011, MGM Resort International (MGM) hardly escaped from declaring bankruptcy due to its long-term debt (Garrahan, 2009).

The area which is left out in cost cutting efforts is its logistics and supply chain operation. A well managed SCM system can help the hotel industry to gain competitive advantage .An established logistics and SCM strategies not only enhances the service and quality but also reduces the cost.

Where, Companies like best buy struggle to stay alive, Amazon and Wal-Mart, world's largest two retailers, maintain to grow up and thrive because of their logistics and SCM to reduce cost and offer products and services to the customers at a lower cost(Bonney,2012)

Logistics and SCM are normally used at operational, tactical and strategic level in the hotel, retail, manaufacturing, healthcare, automotive industry .And hotel industry benefit with broad practice of logistics and SCM by delivering a consistently dependable and high quality service at the best costs.

Where, Companies like best buy struggle to stay alive, Amazon and Wal-Mart, world's largest two retailers, maintain to grow up because of their logistics and SCM to reduce cost and offer products and services to the customers at a lower cost (Bonney,2012).

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT:

Lambert, Cooper, and Pagh, 1998 defines supply chain management as the combination of main business processes from the end user through the real suppliers that offer product, services and information that add value for customers and other stakeholder.

http://www.supplychainquarterly.com/topics/Logistics/scq200901book/

What do we really mean by supply chain management?

By Leif Enarsson | From the Quarter 1 2009 issue

SCM is a process of working together with customers to develop and apply supply chain strategies which generate value and deliver competitive advantage. Alignment of supply chain operations across the business, sustain and enable the accomplishment of the business aims and strategy. http://www.pwc.co.uk/consulting/supply-chain-management.jhtml

LOGISTICS:

The Council of Logistics Management (CLM) 1998 defines logistics is that element of the supply chain process that plans, implements and controls the efficient, successful flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from the point-of-beginning to the point of- consumption in order to meet the requirements of the customers .Christopher's 1998 defines logistics as the management of upstream and downstream relationships with suppliers and customers to deliver superior customer value at less cost to the supply chain as a whole.

CURRENT ISSUES

PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT: . http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2013_1st/Jan13_AgilysysIndigo.html(extra hai read it)

It is the sourcing and purchasing of goods and services for business purpose. Set procurement policies are used in the logistics and SC industry that oversee their choice of suppliers, products and the methods and procedures that are going to be used to communicate with their suppliers. Nowadays in procurement atmosphere, significance has been located on reducing cost during purchasing which leads to the best costs and value to its customers

http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/management/g/procurement.htm

Some companies like Wal-Mart goes straight to the manufacturer, and they are very strong when they negotiate their price with their suppliers and make sure that no other company is buying the product at a lower price than them. For instance company like TJX are so transparent with regard to their procurement strategy and by interacting to vendors in order to understand their price structure and strategy to reduce cost

For example, www.inboundlogistics.com/digital/issues/il_digital_december2010.pdf dec 2010

Hilton Hotels changed their procurement strategy and it now focuses on spreading its operations through franchisees. This enables the company to bring in revenues in the form of franchisee fee without incurring any additional costs to purchase real estate and construct hotels. Hilton Hotels makes certain they build strong relationships with suppliers for high-quality deals, and then negotiate mark-ups with the distributors that handle warehousing and delivery. Also as part of their strategy to control the whole supply chain process, they are making changes internationally by focusing on integrating their international procurement http://www.wikinvest.com/wiki/Hilton_Hotels

Venetian /Palazzo in Las Vegas purchasing is done on a two week alternation using the

company’s distribution master plan philosophy which includes 1-3 vendors. They request

for the best price and promotions to saving on cost with the lower price. In

procurement process Venetian /Palazzo, they try to keep on within a 1 - 5% value as part of their product costs plan.(R. Lindsay, personal communication, June 15, 2012).

The Venetian/Palazzo and Hilton, like many other hotel companies, use

procurement software called Stratton Warren in order to manage the entire procurement process through e-commerce. Stratton Warren includes system like financial system and warehouse management to help to

has been integrated with other systems like warehouse management and financial systems to help increase better visibility and control of their procurement process Agilysys Stratton Warren system (SWS) http://www-304.ibm.com/partnerworld/gsd/scsolutiondetails.do?cd=BPAS&sbcd=&solution=16749&lc=en

DISTRUBUTION MANAGMENT:

It is the management of the efficient transfer of goods from the point of of manufacture to the point consumption or sale. Distribution management consist of activities like as warehousing, materials handling, packaging, stock control, order processing, and transportation. http://www.qfinance.com/dictionary/distribution-management

http://www.sabre-holdings.com/newsroom/release.php?id=113

http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles.aspx/3636/Challenges-of-distribution-management

ORLANDO—Amid dynamic pricing and the proliferation of new channels, managing distribution is more challenging than ever before—especially in the absence of real-time connectivity and industry standards, according to panelists at a HITEC breakout session last month.

HotelREZ is a global hotel representation company providing hotel GDS distribution  .With HotelREZ your hotel is given access to a set of web-based tools, designed to help you simplify the process of distributing rates, inventory and content to a wide range of booking channels. From one easy to use interface, your hotel is able to control distribution to the GDS, major internet channels as well as your hotel's own website, using REZbooker 3.0 online hotel booking engine. http://www.hotelrez.net/

LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT :

Logistics management is a element of all levels of planning and execution. It is the authority of supply chain functions. Logistics management activities include inbound and outbound transportation management, fleet management, warehousing, materials handling, order fulfillment, logistics network design, inventory management, supply/demand planning, and management of third party logistics services providers. In addition,the logistics management also includes customer service, sourcing and procurement, production planning and scheduling, packaging and assembly. http://searchmanufacturingerp.techtarget.com/definition/logistics-management

The Four Queens has a program called vendor compliance program, where they inform vendors how they want the arrival of their product .The incorporation of operations with suppliers has helped hotel properties to accomplish the greatest throughput and highest efficiency, in the least period of time.(W.bach,personal communication,june 13,2012)

According to Robert Lindsay, at the Venetian/Palazzo, their logistics management

strategy involves the relationship between procurement as well as vendors. They both are held

accountable for checking and evaluating vendor performance, observing at what percentage of

the suppliers purchase orders conform to requirements, and where they are conforming in area of

pack size clarification and consolidating orders when they have big drops and correct pricing on

invoices that match the bid. The goal is to get to 100% compliance which does not always

happen. Although direct communication with the suppliers typically occurs through

procurement, the property’s dock workers identify issues and provide immediate feedback to the

procurement staff who communicates with the supplier (R. Lindsay, personal communication,

June 15, 2012).

One challenge at the Four Queens is the fact that since it does not use a centralized

ordering process, vendors have hundred of purchase orders and the limited amount of dock staff

and the heat in las Vegas, makes scheduling deliveries difficult and expensive. Suppliers are

forced to use less than truckload (LTL) carriers to send orders to individual properties instead of

sending items in truckload (TL) quantities. In contrast, through Wyndham’s centralized

purchasing system, the company is able to receive favorable pricing and make certain that

vendors are reliable by further reducing overall costs. Wyndham also uses its internet based

inbound transportation tools to help control visibility into which suppliers are actually ready to

ship and the quantity through its web based scheduling capabilities (Wyndham Hotels & Resorts,

2012). Many hotels across the country have started purchasing products using this strategy since

it minimizes order status and delivery time uncertainty

Logistics management is part of all levels of planning and execution -- strategic, operational and tactical. It is an integrating function, which coordinates all logistics activities, as well as integrates logistics activities with other functions including marketing, sales manufacturing, finance, and information technology.

Automation makes managing inventory, filling orders, or processing returns, and linking overall supply chain system more efficient.Common automations in Logistic Management include online inventory status, State of the art warehouse management systems (WMS), Real-time inventory management systems, Tracking and Tracing, Proof of Deliveries, 24/7 Internet Access, Auto-email, EDI, Radio Frequency (RF) Inventory Control, Continual Cycle Count, Order Processing, Order Fulfillment, Product Recall, Product Returns.http://ph.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110405071541AAL0BVf