Variables in the Design of Distribution Systems: In the Confectionery, Pharmaceutical, and Shirt Industries

This paper is concerned with examining the variables which influence the periodic redesign of physical distribution systems. It assumes that with a few exceptions every arrangement for moving goods from production to customer is one which has been built up through a series of non‐related decisions made in answer to a problem which has developed to such proportions that it cannot be solved by adjusting the existing system. The paper ignores also the relatively few companies who are large enough to use an integrated distribution system which has been developed with the aid of a simulation or with linear programming techniques. The problems of these companies are adequately dealt with in the literature on simulation and linear programming techniques.