Facility Logistics Management

The Netherlands is well known for its expertise in distribution operations. Many American and Asian multinational companies have established their European logistics centre in the Netherlands (about 55%, according to HIDC, 2001), and it is the home base of many logistics service providers and operations.

The logistics sector has a big impact on the Dutch economy. Warehousing and distribution are core businesses for many large and smaller firms.

This course focuses on process design and execution: operations, particularly those within facilities (internal logistics). External and internal logistics are heavily related and, even stronger, interdependent. We will address such questions as: what is the impact of a company’s distribution structure on the internal logistics system, and vice versa? What storage systems should be used under which circumstances, what handling systems, what is the best layout, which information systems are appropriate, and what is the resulting system performance in terms of, for instance, throughput, utilization and order flow times? Besides matters of system choice, operational storage and order picking strategies are also discussed.

During the course, a number of case-based assignments will be carried out.

The course addresses several skills. These include presentations, data-mining with a database tool, design (make good quality layout drawings), and (stochastic) analysis and modeling of material handling systems.