Operations and Supply Chain Management Investigation Case Study

Overview:

Haskayne students, Kevin Kausche, Anton Zmushka and Tenzing Tashi, participated in a course project in partnership with Distribution Services. Distribution Services, located in UCalgary’s Physical Plant at the west end of campus, is responsible for centrally receiving, verifying and delivering all freight destined for faculties and departments on and off campus. They are also responsible for the outbound shipping, furnishing and asset disposal processes required by the university community.

The goal of this project was for the students to identify improvements to the current delivery process so that Distribution Services is better prepared for the future. Students worked closely with the Distribution Services Manager to evaluate the following processes:

Receipt of packages from an external courier to delivery at any of the locations in the existing delivery network;
Design of the existing delivery network, including the number of different locations in the network; and,
How the packages are distributed at the faculties.

Outcomes:

A description and review of the internal processes currently used by Distribution Services to receive and deliver packages.
A review of the delivery routes and possible efficiencies to be implemented, including identification of possible future “mini-hub” locations where campus members could pick up their packages.

Next Steps:

Synchronize routes to increase efficiency and reduce the amount of time vehicles could be on the road.
Implement a super mailbox pilot project to decrease time spent in buildings and at loading docks that have limited accessibility.
Create new CLL projects as the data provided by the students showed a strong upswing in freight, specifically e-commerce, associated with students who live on campus. This volume increase has turned into another CLL project that Distribution Services and Residence Services will participate in.