Upstream Supplier Activities To Relieve Labor Shortage In Distribution Center

Globalization has promoted the development of a global procurement network.The network gathers suppliers,producers,wholesalers,and retailers together,and all parties integrate purchasing,manufacturing,sales,and service activities into the network to form the supply chain.When products flow through the supply chain,it links up upstream suppliers and downstream customers.The distribution center is an important node connecting the upstream and downstream in the supply chain.The operation of the distribution center is directly related to the efficiency of the whole supply chain.This thesis takes “HPKN”,a U.S.based automotive accessories manufacturer and distributor as an example.Base on the current situation of labor shortage in its distribution center in the United States,the thesis analyzes the causes of the problem and evaluates the possible risks.It will calculate the activities and corresponding cost of goods from entering to leaving the distribution center under the circumstance of labor shortage in the United States through a series models,and find out the breakthrough to solve this problem.Firstly,part of the activities in the distribution center will be transferred to the upstream suppliers in China,and then the optimized transportation routings from the distribution center to customers will be obtained through clustering analysis.Combining with slip sheet loading and container loading improvement plan,the operational activities in the distribution center can be reduced or transferred through the pre-distribution method to relieve the pressure of labor shortage in the distribution center and ensure the operation of the whole supply chain run smoothly.Numerical optimization and practical simulations are employed in this thesis.“HPKN” found out a workable operation process through calculation and practice in the thesis,and proved the feasibility of the model.The versatility of such kind of operation may be limited due to industry differences,but it inspires us to pay attention to the agility when designing supply chain strategy to increase the resilience to cope with supply chain risks.