Supply and Distribution Managers
Plan, organise, direct, control and coordinate the supply, storage and distribution of goods produced by organisations.
Peak week at the distribution centre
You are the supply and distribution manager of a grocery distribution centre, in the busiest week before a long weekend. It is 4am on Wednesday. Orders are up, one of the cold rooms is running warm, and the afternoon shift has called to say several people are sick.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
One of the cold rooms is not keeping its temperature. I can fix it, but it will take about six hours, and I would need to move all the stock out. If I do not, it could get worse before the long weekend.
Wait until after the weekend, since it is only a small fault and the stores need their stock
The room fails completely on Saturday morning and a whole room of chilled stock is lost. A small fault in a cold room is a warning, not an annoyance.
Move the stock, repair tonight in the quiet period and tell the stores about any order changes
The stock is moved in sections and the repair is done by dawn. Stores know about the small changes, and the long weekend runs normally. Fixing a risk before it fails is the best time to do it.
Start the repair now and ask the stores to accept short orders for today while the room is empty
The room is fixed quickly, but short orders on the busiest day of the week frustrate the stores. A quieter time would have cost them less.
Six of my people are off sick and I cannot get replacements at this notice. If we run with who we have, the afternoon orders will be late. Or I can ask the ones who are here to work longer. What do you want?
Ask the ones who are here to work extra hours until every order is done, and thank them with a big meal on Friday
People agree, but by evening they are exhausted and the number of picking mistakes rises. Tired workers are slower and less safe, and you will need them again tomorrow.
Tell the stores their orders will be late, with no changes to how the shift runs, and apologise
Nobody is overworked, but the stores are caught off guard and nobody has tried to reduce the size of the problem. Late and unprepared is the worst combination.
Do the urgent orders first, borrow people from a quieter area and offer overtime to those who want it
Fresh and urgent orders go first, and the shift is stretched without being broken. Choosing who gets what first, and giving people a real choice about extra hours, is a manager's job.
My shelves are almost bare. You promised my delivery by 8am and it is almost ten. I have customers standing in front of empty gaps. I do not care about your problems. Where is my truck?
Tell her the truck is on its way, so she stops calling
You do not know where the truck is. When it does not arrive within the hour, Maribel calls back angrier and tells the regional manager. A false answer is worse than no answer.
Find out exactly where her truck is, tell her the real time and say what you are doing to make it up
The truck is forty minutes away. Maribel is still frustrated, but she can tell her staff and customers something definite. People can cope with a delay if they know how long it is.
Apologise and explain the whole situation at the distribution centre, so she understands why
Maribel hears a long story but still does not know when her truck will arrive. Explanation is useful, but she needed the answer first.
How it went
By Thursday morning the cold room is repaired, the orders are out and the long weekend is covered. Supply and distribution managers keep goods moving through the middle of a chain, under time pressure and with many people waiting. Do you like the idea of running a place that never stops?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The trucks that arrived all at once
A fictional case set in a large fictional distribution centre that supplies groceries to supermarkets across a region.
The situation
Supply and distribution manager Bronwyn Achebe ran the Kellaway Distribution Centre, which sent groceries to more than forty stores. One Tuesday, a major storm delayed trucks across the region. By mid-afternoon, nearly all the inbound trucks arrived at once, and the evening outbound trucks were due to leave. The dock was jammed, drivers were running out of legal driving hours, and chilled goods were beginning to warm. Stores were phoning for updates, and every one of them believed their order was the priority.
What they did
Bronwyn took charge of the dock. She asked her team leaders to sort the waiting trucks into three groups: the chilled and fresh goods first, then the stores with the lowest stock, then everything else. She paid for extra hands from the next shift. She sent the same short update to every store at the same time, explaining the delay and when each group of deliveries would arrive.
How it turned out
Fresh goods were unloaded first and none were lost. Most stores received their orders late that night, a few the next morning. Some store managers were unhappy, but fewer called once the updates started. Bronwyn kept the sorting method and used it at the next peak.
What would you do?
- Why did Bronwyn send the same message to every store?
- What would you want to know before deciding which trucks to unload first?
- What do you think it feels like to be in charge when everything arrives at once?