MGMT2017 Supply Chain Decision Analytics
Supply Chain Decision Analytics
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MGMT2017 Supply Chain Decision Analytics
Group Assignment
Format: Business Report
Due date: (Sunday, 28th May, 11:59 PM)
Submission: Online through Turnitin
Marks: %35 marks
1 Objective
This assessment item relates to the course learning outcomes 2, 4, and 5 as stated in the unit outline.
2 Scenario
2.1 Description of Case Study
BERLIN BREWERY is a Berlin beer brand well-known for its small, traditional, handmade beer. Currently,
they have one brewery (factory) and one DC in Berlin. Although they have been in business a short time,
they already have 50 customers in eight countries. Nevertheless, they face several problems which need
to be solved. On the one hand, the German beer market, which is the primary market with the highest
sales for BERLIN BREWERY, can be characterized as a mature market with strong prices and pressure
from competition. A sales crisis has been going on for years and competition is intensifying as a result
of consolidation processes implemented by international brewing companies. To expand their distribution
network and reduce costs by inventory management improvements, a simulation and optimization analysis
must be performed to evaluate their current SC performance and develop suggestions for its improvement.
To provide context, an overview of the German and international beer market will be explained, and the
relevant technical details of the BERLIN BREWERY and its SC presented. Next the current problem will
be described, followed by developments of the GFA, NO, and Simulation alongside the respective results.
Finally, recommendations for management need is given based on the computational results.
Beer is an alcoholic and carbonated beverage which is made by fermenting water, malt, and hops. The
production of beer can be traced back to the farmers who lived in the 4th millennium BC during the
Babylonian and pharaonic times. In Europe, the addition of hop to water only became generally valid in the
14th century. In the early Middle Ages, beer was brewed primarily in monasteries. Particularly in northern
Germany, the top-fermented brewing industry flourished. After the Thirty Years’ War, Bavaria gradually
came to the fore as a beer country. To save the purity and tradition of beer, the Bavarian dukes Albrecht
IV and William IV regulated the raw materials with strict purity laws. According to these laws, only barley,
hops and water could be used to make beer. The purity requirement of 1516 is the oldest, still valid food
legislation in the world (o.V.2017).
The German brewing tradition enjoys a prestigious reputation worldwide. According to the German
Brwers’ Federation (o.V.2017), there were around 5,000 beer brands in Germany at the beginning of 2015
and over 6,000 in 2017. The trend is rising, although consumption is decreasing.
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The market for beer products and the German brewing industry are characterized by strong prices and
competition. As mentioned, a sales crisis has been going on for years and the competition is intensifying
because of consolidation processes implemented by international brewing companies.
The SC of a brewery is highly complex. First, essential ingredients (hops, malt, yeast, and water) and
extra ingredients have to be shipped to the brewery. Shipping hops is particularly complex as the product
is very sensitive: moisture, heat, and oxygen reduce its brewing value over time. As a result, hops must
be stored between -2 and +3 Celsius. After the brewing process, the young beer is stored in tanks at a
temperature of 1 to 2 Celsius for a length of time between three weeks and three months. In this time, the
beer ferments and gets its characteristic colour. In the final steps, the beer is filtered, bottled, and labelled
(Plank, 2013). Figure 1 summarizes the logistics process of the craft beer industry.
Figure 1: Logistics process of the craft beer industry
Warehousing, picking, and loading are carried usually out by company employees, but this depends on
size and internal factors for each company. Some companies set up their own service companies for in-
house logistics, but most breweries engage external companies for sorting empties, cleaning empties, and the
cleaning of the plant. Compared to other industries, the distribution of beer is diversified as many di↵erent
channels have to be covered. These include the classic food retail trade, beverage disposal markets, food
discounters, petrol stations, and gastronomy. However, the importance of di↵erent distribution channels has
changed in recent years. Food retailers (especially discounters) have gained more importance in the brewing
industry, while the importance of gastronomy has declined. In general, all channels receive the beer either
directly from the breweries (it’s possible that a third-party-logistics provider takes care of transportation)
or through a beverage wholesaler.
2.2 Problem Statement
Currently, the BERLIN BREWERY’s Brewhouse consists of 5 tanks which have a total capacity of 20hl.
Assuming that demand for its beer is rising, the BERLIN BREWERY has the option to expand its Brewhouse
with more tanks. The whole process from the original brewing to the finished product requires between four
to six weeks depending on how long each type of beer must be stored. As the location of production in Berlin
is small, all beer produced is stored in the only DC in Berlin. An external service provider takes care of all
logistical requirements. Currently, most of the beer BERLIN BREWERY sells is sold in Berlin, though the
craft beer is also sold to wholesalers all over Germany. Since 2018, customer locations include Switzerland,
Austria, Sweden, Norway, France, Italy, and Spain. BERLIN BREWERY collaborates with three suppliers
in Germany who deliver empty beer bottles in crates, as well as the hops and malt. Empty bottles in crates
are delivered from a location close to Nuremberg, the hops come from Koblenz, and malt is delivered by a
supplier from a location close to Dresden. BERLIN BREWERY’s current sales’ figures and further financial
figures, which are important for the analysis, are summarized in the next step. One-o↵ acquisition costs for
the brewing equipment is 300,000. Moreover, maintenance costs (including energy and electricity) for the
location of the factory are 80,000 per month or 2,630 per day.
Assuming that one beer crate consists of 20 bottles, the whole cost for one crate is 10. Note that in
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the anyLogistix model, we consider a product “Beer” which is equivalent to one beer crate.
The costs of the product “Beer” can be broken down as follows in Table 1.
Table 1: Bill of materials (BOM), based on information of BERLIN BREWERY
BOM Usage per beer crate Measure used in anyLogistix Costs per beer crate,
Hops 7.92 gr. 1 piece 0.32
Malt 1390 gr. 1 piece 2.22
Crate 20 bottles 1 piece 6.00
Production processing costs 1.46
Total 20 bottles 10.00
Table 1 depicts the BOM (Bill-of-Materials) for the product “Beer” which consists of 1 piece of Hops, 1
piece of Malt and 1 piece of Crate.
Carrying costs, which include warehousing costs, handling inside inventory, and inventory costs, are
estimated to be 0.005 per beer crate ( 0.2 per pallet) per day. The transportation from the BERLIN
BREWERY factory to the DCs are calculated as product-distance based transport and costs are 0.00175
per km/beer crate ( 0.07 per pallet). The transport from the three suppliers to the BERLIN BREWERY
factory is paid by suppliers. Inbound and outbound costs are shipment processing costs. Outbound costs are
assumed to be 0.66 per beer crate ( 26.40 per pallet) and inbound costs are 1 per crate ( 40 per pallet).
Hops and malt are delivered in a one-kilogram packaging unit: one pallet of malt or hops equals 40 packaging
units.
BERLIN BREWERY wishes to expand its sales and work as eciently as possible to increase profit. To
reach these goals, several problems must be overcome: as mentioned in the first section, beer consumption in
Germany, BERLIN BREWERY’s main market, is decreasing and the market as a whole is highly competitive.
The German beer market is a mature, nearly saturated market. Two potential solutions exist: expansion into
other countries or increased sales to existing customers. These options instigate further challenges as BERLIN
BREWERY has only one DC in Berlin. Long routes and long delivery times to individual customers are
the main problems. Because of the long routes, BERLIN BREWERY can respond only relatively inflexible
to spontaneous requests and a high number of unnecessary routes might be taken. There is also the risk of
man-made or natural disruptions which can influence service quality (e.g. a storm destroys DC).
In sum, the goal of BERLIN BREWERY is to expand their distribution network, serve their customers
as eciently and satisfyingly as possible, raise their sales numbers, and increase profit. This is possible by
optimizing their SC: an optimal number of DCs as well as good locations for these DCs must be found to
save as much logistics costs as possible. Loss of quality and delivery problems should be avoided.
Fig. 2 depicts the current situation. Production is in the centre of Berlin and the raw ingredients are
shipped by truck directly from Dresden, Nuremberg, and Koblenz. To store as little as possible, raw materials
are delivered on demand and used directly (JIT- just-in-time) for the production. The beer is delivered to
50 customers all over Europe.
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Figure 2: Current network of BERLIN BREWERY
To provide a better understanding of the circumstances, a few assumptions are made:
All prices and costs are shown and calculated in .
All processes are considered in terms of (beer) crates or pallet specifications, rather than bottles. This
is because BERLIN BREWERY sells their beer only in whole crates, and these terms help to simplify
the model. In one beer crate there are always 20 bottles of beer, which have 0.33 liters of content per
bottle (6.6 liters per crate).
1 pallet = 40 beer crates = 800 beer bottles
The recycling deposit on bottles is not considered.
Transportation costs from the factory to all DCs are the same.
Transportation/ handling costs from the DCs to the customers are adapted to the price level of the
actual country.
One year consists of two periods:
Summer period: 01.05.2021 - 31.10.2021
Demand coecient: 1.2 (meaning 1.2 times higher demand as in winter due to higher demand during
warm months)
Winter period: 01.11.2021 - 30.04.2022
Demand coecient: 1.
Orders are received every seven days (static demand).
Transportation speed is 80km/h, the capacity of a truck is 1,320 crates, which equals 33 pallets which
are single stocked.
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Price per crate for customer: 60.00.
We assume that BERLIN BREWERY will sell 260,405 beer crates within the coming summer period
(151,035 crates) and winter period (109,370 crates). Fig. 3 below shows the customers, according to
the summer and winter periods. Substantial sales are made in Germany, especially in Berlin (32,807
beer crates per year) and the least sales are achieved in Basel, Switzerland (871 beer crates per year).
Figure 3: Distribution of sales by country and period, own illustration
The main customers are beverage retailers, which purvey to smaller retailers or restaurants. Therefore,
it is considered that only one wholesaler is supplied per city. This wholesaler makes resales indepen-
dently. As a result, no further storage costs are incurred as no further DC is required. Transportation
to the wholesalers and handling is currently being handled entirely by a logistics service provider as
BERLIN BREWERY does not yet have the necessary capacity and occupancy rate for profitable ship-
ment. This service provider picks up the goods in the brewery, stores them in their own warehouse,
and launches directly to the distributor as needed. The current financial performance is presented in
Table 2.
Table 2: Current cost structure
KPIs
Transportation cost 346,991
Other cost 996,450
Inbound processing cost 905,117
Outbound processing cost 348,895
Inventory purchases 2,282,011
Production 390,133
Revenue 15,684,866
Profit 10,407,351
2.3 Greenfield Analysis (GFA)
Now we conduct a GFA. The aim of this GFA is to determine optimal DC locations in the SC subject to
minimum total transportation costs.
Creating an ALX model
Step 1. Open scenario BR GFA
Step 2. Check the tables Customers, DCs and Factories, Demand, Unit Conversions, and
Products.
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Performing experiments
Step 1. Go to GFA Experiment and run it for “Number of sites = 7”.
Step 2. Analyze the results using statistics “Product Flows” and “New Site Locations”.
Step 3. Go to GFA Experiment and run it for “Number of sites = 2”.
Step 4. Analyze the results using statistics “Product Flows” and “New Site Locations”. Develop
your managerial insights for the results with 7 and 2 DCs in terms of costs and responsiveness.
2.4 Network Optimization (NO)
The NO o↵ers the possibility of optimizing an existing SC according to maximum possible profit. In this
case, the solutions of the GFA will be taken into account to optimize the SC. Having checked the suggested
GFA sites for DCs, the SC manager of BERLIN BREWERY analysed those locations further regarding
additional factors such as availability of warehouses to rent, construction costs for building new warehouses,
fixed costs, infrastructure, future demand forecasts, etc. As a result, some of the GFA suggested locations
are moved (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Alternative DCs locations
The NO goal is to find the SC design with the highest possible profit. To define the NO problem from
a mathematical perspective, several parameters must be input as data. Each of the DCs has an inventory
capacity of min. 5,800 beer crates and max. 11,600 beer crates as well as a one-week inventory range.
The brewery can stock 10,000 crates at maximum and should carry an inventory of at least 5,000 crates.
Customers and their demands remain the same as in the GFA. To avoid confusion, the DCs are now marked
as red icons. Green icons are added to symbolize the suppliers of beer ingredients. These suppliers are
located in Nuremberg, Koblenz, and Dresden.
Figure 5 contains the costs of the sites. These numbers have been adjusted to the income ratios of each
country. Two of them, Berlin and Bochum, are in Germany, and the overall prices in Berlin are cheaper
than in western Germany.