Building Up the Distribution Network for a Trading Company

Designing a distribution network, regardless of the industry, is a challenging task. Incorrect decisions in this matter lead to inefficient implementation of transportation and storage processes. Thus, this can lead to a loss of competitiveness in the market, as well as to other serious consequences, including the bankruptcy of an enterprise or group of enterprises. At present, researchers have created many different distribution network design approaches. However, most of them relied on large companies with a wide geography of activities. For small and medium-sized businesses, it is not always possible to apply the proposed design approaches. This master's thesis will consider the activities of company X from the segment of small and medium-sized enterprises, which sells pet food. The work consists of four main parts: introduction, main part, conclusion and list of references. The first part will describe the activities of Company X, analyze the pet food market, the financial and economic condition of company X and its logistics activities. In the process of writing the first chapter, the main problems of the company within the scope of the topic of this work will be identified. In the second chapter, the analysis of domestic and foreign sources describing the existing approaches to the design of distribution networks, the specifics of the activities of small and medium-sized businesses is carried out. Also in this chapter, an approach to the design of distribution networks is proposed, aimed at the possibility of its application by small and medium-sized businesses. The third chapter describes the process of implementing the process of reorganizing the distribution network according to the proposed approach and calculates the cost-effectiveness of this solution.