Sound transportation management strategies are critical for any business organization aiming to maximize its resources and scale higher ( Arencibia et al ., 2015). In many instances, manufacturing and other companies often overlook transportation and incur many expenses when trying to deliver their products to customers. However, this can be avoided by putting in place an integrated and well-calculated transportation approach that considers time, expenses, and promptness of goods or service delivery to customers. Therefore, this paper discusses various distribution methods applicable for the shoe company to deliver its products to Albany, NY, Phoenix, AZ, and Jacksonville, FL, and navigate through Munich, Germany, the new distribution center. Also, the paper summarizes how I will construct an international network to reach Munich, Germany consistently. Finally, it analyses the existing carriers based on the selected modes of transport and analyses the modal choices' environmental impacts.
New Hampshire Shoe Company is based in Manchester and has the main distribution centers as Albany, NY, Jacksonville, FL, and Phoenix, AZ. Various modes of transportation applications for the company to reach out to its main distribution centers and the new center Munich. For instance, flight, train, and road transports are the most relevant modes; however, each has its own implications on time, quantity transported, and cost. The main factory located in Manchester, Albany, NY, is approximately 163 miles, which averagely would cost about $1800 when choosing rail transport. Although transportation by rail is good, especially when transporting large quantities of products, it is much slower than road transport or air freight. Additionally, should the company choose to ship its products to the Albany distribution center by train, it will have to budget for extra costs because this mode of transports cannot deliver directly to the distribution centers.
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Another mode of transport that can be considered in this case is air transport. Through air freight, the shoes' distribution to different centers can be much faster than the train. However, since the company has many distribution centers and needs to transport the shoes in bulk, air freight becomes limited in terms of quantity transported. The company also focuses on minimizing transportation costs and maximizing profits; hence, air transport can only be opted for when the goods are needed in urgency. Therefore, air freight mode of transport is thus less convenient for our shoe company as it is limited to a small number of shoes being transported.
Since the methods mentioned above have more disadvantages than advantages, I am left with one option to consider and probably chose which road transport is. Based on the information provided earlier, the distance that needs to be covered is approximately 1163 miles, which would averagely $4 for every mile. In other words, approximately $700 will be spent on shipping the products. This method effectively covers travel time since around three hours are required to deliver Albany's products. Therefore, road transport is economical for the company, and I would choose it over the other two.
Also, our products need to be shipped to Phoenix, AZ distribution center. Unlike Albany, the phoenix is approximately 2,771 miles from the manufacturing company. Through the Use of land transport, about $12,000 will be spent on transport, since an average of $4 is charged every mile. Additionally, based on the US department of transport regulations, traveling 2771 miles will take about four days ( France et al., 2018) . Hence, goods needed with urgency will be delayed if I chose to deliver the products using this method. Therefore, based on the cost and travel time, I would not choose this mode of transport.
On the other hand, Air shipping remains very expensive and can only deliver a small quantity of the products. Although through air shipping, only six hours would be consumed as the travel time, this method only remains limited to goods that are required with urgency. Rail transport is the most logical option for shipping the products to Phoenix, AZ. First, the container costs approximately $1850, and second, the travel time is about to and half days. Hence, the company will have saved one and a half days of travel and around $9000 compared to the cost of road transport. Rail shipping is the most appropriate shipping mode for Phoenix, AZ.
Jacksonville, FL, is the last distribution center, and for this, it would definitely choose rail transport. This takes approximately one day to deliver the products, and it’s relatively cheap compared to air freight and road transport. Choosing a shipping company for the products requires considering many logistics associated with time, cost, and travel time. The company should be in a position to choose a transportation mode that maximizes profits, minimizes cost while at the same time ensuring prompt availability of the products to the consumers ( Simons et al., 2014) . As discussed above, the three transport modes, air freight, rail, and road, have both positive and negative impacts on the business environment and must thus be keenly analyzed before settling on either.
References
Arencibia, A. I., Feo-Valero, M., García-Menéndez, L., & Román, C. (2015). Modelling mode choice for freight transport using advanced choice experiments. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice , 75 , 252-267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2015.03.027
France, M., Multer, J., Safar, H., & Center, U. D. V. (2018, March). New guidance for CAST: A case study of a US freight rail stop signal overrun & collision. In Proc. MIT STAMP Workshop . http://psas.scripts.mit.edu/home/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Tues-France-PUB-MFrance-STAMP-Workshop-2018_v6.pdf
Simons, D., Clarys, P., De Bourdeaudhuij, I., De Geus, B., Vandelanotte, C., & Deforche, B. (2014). Why do young adults choose different transport modes? A focus group study. Transport Policy , 36 , 151-159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2014.08.009
