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GSCM Assignment
GSCM Assignment
Title of Assignment
Case-Study: Innovative Approaches to Improve Sustainability of Physical
Distribution in Dutch Agri-food Supply Chains
Submitted To:
Mr. Tahir Masood Khan
Submitted by:
Arslan Ahmed
Saad Hafeez
Yahya Ijaz
Course
Green Supply Chain Management
Program
MBA-36 Evening
Date of Submission
April 2, 2021
How do you define Distribution?
Generally, distribution refers to process of monitoring flow of goods from supply point to the
demand point. In other words, distribution means making your product/service available to meet
the needs and wants of your customers in order to satisfy their needs.
In Supply Chain Management distribution refers to the process of overseeing the management of
flow of goods or products from supplier to manufacturer and then to the end consumer. The
activities in distribution encompasses packaging, inventory management, warehousing, supply
chains and logistics.
According to the given case-study there are three main key strategies that Dutch Agri-food Supply
Chains use which includes Efficiency Strategy, Reduction Strategy and Alteration Strategy have
used for making sustainable physical distribution. The key point of which are as under
1. Efficiency Strategy
Efficient Strategy focuses on making efficient transport by optimizing load factor and better
utilization of available transport equipment
• First through optimization of the load factor and reducing the amount of fuel
• Optimization of truck load can be attained by combining rides which was termed
as “fright bundling’” or collaboration with others partners/competitors in sharing
the rides but this is nearly impossible to happen due to complexities associated with
the nature of goods being transported for e.g. as it was mentioned that quality of
bananas could affect the other fresh products and cannot be transported in one
transport unit. Similarly combing two un-related products (Agricultural and
nonagricultural could cause problems). There were odor related issues discussed as
well
• As mentioned in the case, although freight-bundling lowers the cost of
transportation provided shippers and receivers are in close proximity but practically
this could not be possible.
• The delivery time of both parties (shippers and receivers) was another factor as they
both have specific picking or delivery time which cause
• Another problem was truck carried some logo of the shipper and considered an
extension of branding the shipper’s name
• Reducing fuel consumption for a provided distance
• Since CO2 emission is directly linked to amount of fuel used by the trucks, the less fuel
used lower the CO2 emission during transportation.
• Training the drivers to be energy- conscientious (Eco-driving style) which can be
monitored by installing a device in the truck which gives all the information
• This information can be analyzed to find improvements
• Another way to improve fuel consumption of the transportation is to replace the
currents fleet of truck with better mileage and by ensuring proper maintenance of
existing fleet.
2. Alteration Strategy
Alteration strategy seeks to change the transport patterns and behaviors altogether using
various alternatives such a cleaner fuels, renewable fuel
As there were three main strategies discussed which Dutch Agri-value chain use for sustainable physical
distribution which includes efficient, alternation and reduction strategy. If we analyze these strategies in
context of Pakistan’s Agri-food supply Chain it is as under:
Efficiency Strategy:
This strategy can be relevant strategies to make Pakistan’s Agri-value chain more sustainable because it
aims at making better use of modes of transportation which can be either be: by optimizing the load factor,
for example Pakistan’s agri-food supply chain uses trucks for transporting agriculture produce to inter or
intra-city and we often see either the trucks are quite old or are obsolete which they produce high CO2
during transportation which is causing serious problems to the environment. In terms of load factor too,
there is need to optimize the amount transported through these trucks. Also, the concept of freight bundling
can be helpful but obviously it has some demerits associated with it as discussed, as it is nearly impossible
for partners to collaborate and come together due to different nature of products involved with the nature
of agriculture-goods being transported.
Reduction Strategy:
I think this strategy can be also be relevant in context of Pakistan Agri-food Supply Chain for making
physical distribution more sustainable because since it aims to reduce the distance between the farmers
(origin) and the processing factory or plant (temp-destiny) thereby minimizing the spoilage and obsolesce
associated with them while transporting or storing them. This will also reduction CO2 emission due to lesser
movement while shipping these products from farms to processing centers.