Computer Systems for Distribution Planning

A recent survey by the Centre for Physical Distribution Management in the UK identified the Distribution Strategy Simulator (DSS) as the one commercially available computer system capable of simulating total distribution operations. Alan Waller is Head of Distribution Studies at Cranfield Institute of Technology and has been heavily involved with Coopers and Lybrand Associates in the design, development and implementation of the DSS system. He describes in this article the emergence of the concept of the modelling system in the shape of DSS. The flexible properties of a modelling system are discussed, and illustrated through a number of implementations of the DSS system in Europe and North America.