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I.D.

way of optimizing Supply Chain


Everyone should tackle some great project at least once in their life
This article is a product of my working experience and study how Long Term Philosophy could be applied for
a company with extremely fast paced production and distribution of perishable goods to the end customer within no
longer than 72 hours delivery policy after product has been produced harvested. Perishables goods are core of
business and one of the most important players on the market with no room for error or delay.
After I had a chance to work and observe information and production flow between Producer-WarehouseCustoms - Main Office - Trucking Company my concerns about efficiency has been proved. My long hours
working and analyzing internal and external system, which is currently working, for the time being conclusion was with
only one right solution how to improve it Optimizing information/documentation flow.
JIT is a set of principles, tools, and techniques that allows a company to produce and deliver products in
specific amount, with short lead times, to meet specific customer needs. Simply put, JIT delivers the right product at
the right time in the right amount. The power of JIT as that allows you to be responsive to the day-to-day operations in
customer demand, which was exactly what company in perishable industry need all along.
Perishable goods are a unique area in logistics that does not existed any inventory for more than 24 hours,
basically it means once product came in it should depart as soon as possible. On top of everything most of the
customers has a specific demand for their receiving scheduling.
However, most of people do not have an idea how dedicated team should be in order to deliver fresh fish to
the restaurants, customers and retail stores.
From my point of view if any company will follow next challenges in their supply chain system that will help to
improve operations and time management. Please see below graphs which will clearly indicates how new
implementation will help to save TIME and $. My system will contain 3 steps of how supply chain might be optimized
according to specific company (could be implemented in any other companies).
1) Present System

1.1
The scheme 1.1 shows how system was working before any implementation and improvement. One of the major
problems is chaos in completely unnecessary information and documentation flow from one place to another. To begin
with I should give a little explanation how it works:
-

Fish has been harvested;


Main office received report with # cases and weight;
Product arrive to the warehouse;
Warehouse scan every single box / pallet and input all data into the system;

Illia Dumbadze
B.Sc, M.Sc, CITP | FIBP Professional
Scientific Associate in Transport Field

Cell: +1 (778) 839-7817


E: ilikodumbadze@gmail.com

Warehouse receiving order confirmations and load plans from logistics department;
All orders has to be allocated accordingly to the above submitted documents;
Customs documents might be submitted before truck depart from warehouse
Truck departing to cross border
Deliver product to customer

2) Planned System

2.1
The scheme 2.1 is slightly improved by implementing a few programs, which allows warehouse import data
from production farm and make scanning process earthier. However, there is still a few gaps mostly with Customs
documents which required actual weight in order not be charged extra for resubmitting documents.

3) IMPLEMENTATION

This system contains all improvement and optimization, which will improve documentation / information flows
by 45% and reduce working hours by 25% at the beginning. Lets take a deep look what causes major improvement in
this system:
- Pre-booked orders should be submitted to fish processor (reducing work at warehouse)
- All orders came to warehouse allocated;
- Customs documents submitted before actual product arrive to warehouse
- Optimized documentation flow warehouse will receive all order already allocated
Warehouse job became as easy to only reload pallets from one truck to another meanwhile scanning all
products at the same time;
- Trucks will cross border within 2-3 hours instead 8-9 hours before optimizing.
After tremendous amount of hours that was spent over this diagram Im more than welcome to share my
knowledge and ideas in regards how system could be optimized. This is a short version of report to entire system of
optimization. Any comments or suggestion are highly appreciated.
Illia Dumbadze
B.Sc, M.Sc, CITP | FIBP Professional
Scientific Associate in Transport Field

Cell: +1 (778) 839-7817


E: ilikodumbadze@gmail.com

Many thanks for your kind consideration and reading my article.

Illia Dumbadze
B.Sc, M.Sc, CITP | FIBP Professional
Scientific Associate in Transport Field

Cell: +1 (778) 839-7817


E: ilikodumbadze@gmail.com

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