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Executive summary

The project report is based on Scheduling of vendors (suppliers), who supplies goods to
stores via distribution centre. Purpose of the project is to reduce the idle time and over time
by properly distributing the load each day, to improve efficiency in distribution centre. This
project is aimed to prepare a proper schedule for top 42 vendors (7 staples, 20 Foods and
15 non-foods). These 42 are the top vendors and constitutes maximum loads for the DC.
Rest are the small vendors and can be easily adjusted in between. So after adhering to the
new scheduling, problems associated with peaks and overloading can be controlled up to a
certain extent.
And finally proper vendor scheduling helps in giving good and fast services to vendors that
helps in maintaining good relations with vendors. So that in return vendors will provide
proper services, gives discounts and also supplies emergency supplies whenever needed by
the customer. This is helpful for the long term growth of the company.

Chapter- 1
a) Introduction

Scheduling is the process of deciding how to commit resources between varieties of possible
tasks. Time can be specified or floating as part of a sequence of events
A vendor, or a supplier, is anyone who provides goods or services to a company. Either
vendor procures material from the manufacturer and supplies it to the customer or
manufactures inventor able items, and sells those items to a customer.
Why proper scheduling in necessary?

Planning and scheduling


Scheduling is a necessity for all businesses. By implementing an effective planning and
scheduling system, businesses can reduce overhead by ensuring a store is not overstaffed
and help reduce the cost of completing a project through better time management.

Time Management
One of the major benefits of planning and scheduling is time management. By creating a
detailed plan or schedule, it is easier to keep track of what needs to be done and ensure all
required duties are performed. Without the effective planning and scheduling of daily
activities a specific amount of work may take longer time to complete due to overburdening
and clashes of task and which may cause other projects to be ignored or take longer than
expected.

Staffing Needs
In retail environments, planning and scheduling is necessary to determine the overall staffing
needs for the store. By comparing previous plans or schedules against the amount of traffic
the store received during the same time within a previous reporting period, a manager can
create a schedule that is cost-effective by eliminating overstaffing while ensuring there is
ample staffs to assist customers. By proper implementation of the scheduling it is easier for
the Managers to forecast the load and make necessary arrangements to handle it.

b) Objectives of the study


Purpose of the project is to reduce the idle time and over time of the workers by properly
distributing the load each day. And hence thereby improve efficiency in distribution centre.

c) Literature Review
There are three major categories of products procured in Spencers retail namely Staples,
Foods and Non Food. Below are few general observation for different categories on the
basis of which schedule is prepared.

Staples
These are bulky goods and time split in handling staples is about 85% for unloading and by
vendor labours that takes maximum time, but involvement of supervisor is only limited to
guidance. After Unloading checking takes very less time as goods are in big packaging and
so easy shifting and rest 15% for checking and miscellaneous work. Unloading and shifting
is done to count and tally. Also numbers of SKUs are limited in Staples as compared to Food
and Non food segment.
Involvement of Spencers workers is generally limited to carry the goods to bay for dispatch.
So requirement for Staples section is mainly free available time slot to unload the products.

Staple

Food and Beverages Segment


These are medium and less bulky good, but ordering Quantity is very high as compared to
Non food and Staples segment. As Food segment is the major profit driver for Spencers
retail. Time split for Food segment is 62% for unloading and 32% for checking and

Miscellaneous work. Unloading takes maximum time because quantity of ordering is high as
circulation of food items are more. Also food items are prone to damage if not handled
properly. Also assortment is easier for Food items than Non food as numbers of SKUs are
less and size is considerable, so picking is easy. Example Coca cola, Pepsi, Britannia,
Cadbury.

Food and Beverages


segment

Non Food Segment


These are generally less bulky and small packaging goods. Its ordering quantity is less as
compared to Food items. Number of SKU is very high in Non food. Time split for this is 50%
unloading (This includes arrangement of the SKUs by vendor itself) and 50% checking.
Unloading is easy and done quickly but major time gets exhausted in arranging the SKUs
according to the order quantity. Although Arrangement is done by the Vendor himself but it
needs considerable space to spread the SKUs. So it put a lot of load on the DC as there is
always a space constraint in the DC. Again checking takes lot of time of the supervisor as
numbers of SKUs are huge and even after proper arrangement of the goods manual
checking takes some time.
For Non food assortment should be done in sequence with the checking for non food, as
already goods are spread on the floor for checking and assortment process takes maximum
time and manpower. So, for non food if all the processes are done in sequence then it will
surely improve the efficiency of the manpower utilization. Example for Non food segment is
HUL, P&G.

Non food
segment

Some observations basis of which Schedule is made.


Maximum time that a vender spent in Distribution centre can be split into two
parts unloading and checking. Unloading includes shifting material from vehicle
to store and placing it to the proper place. This also includes arrangement of all

SKUs

Unloading
Checking for
properly

checking.

Checking includes tallying all the SKUs as per vendor list and make GRN.
Rest all the processes (Documentation) more or less take same time and are not
dependent on quantity of product and number of SKUs.
Workforce in distribution centre is basically divided into two parts.
Supervisors There work is to check the quantity and other details like price,
expiry etc. of the SKUs brought by the Vendor before delivery. They also perform
other documentation related work.
Labours- There major work is to create space for the next delivery to come and
assort the materials for different stores, as guided by the Supervisors.
There are also Documentation and Managerial work that are performed by
Manager and office staf.
Major of the workforce consists of labours and they are majorly involved in
assortment and shifting of assorted material to different bays for dispatch.

Factor for available space.

We also considered the factors for space availability, as proper space are allocated for each
type of products separately for Food, Non food and Staples. Thus we tried to put a proper
mix of vendors each time so that total space available in DC can be used properly. So at a
particular time there is a mix of vendors from Food and Non Food and staples are adjusted
in between accordingly. It also reduces crowding at any place and hence chances of
collision.
Lay out design of distribution centre is shown on daily basis as how the load is distributed
each day from Monday to Saturday.
Each number in the circle shows turn of the vendor to come on that particular day.

Lay out design of Distribution centre

For Monday

For Tuesday

For Wednesday

For Thursday

For Friday

For Saturday

References of vendors are shown in the schedule attached at the last.

Problems associated with improper scheduling.

Many vendors come between a particular time slot (generally between 11.30am and 1.00pm)
and it is not possible for supervisors to entertain all of them together. As a result, waiting time
for vendor increases and hence turnaround time rises. This creates a messy environment as
space available and tools for goods unloading are limited. So vendors have to wait for the
other to unload and thus whole process delays down.
Vendors for similar type of goods come at same time that causes difficulties in terms of
space constraints and handling. Space for each type of products are fixed, so if at a time
vendors for similar type of products arrives then it creates serious deficiency for available
space and it again delays the process.

Due to undistributed load labours do not get proper time to rest and after a while during peak
loads workers gets exhausted. As a result efficiency reduces and hence the handling time.

Overcrowded Receiving

Unorganised

Difficulties in preparing schedules


Major difficulty in vendor scheduling was that we had to balance the loads and with minimum
number of changes in the existing schedule. As suppliers also have their delivery schedules
for different customers, so it is not very easy to convince them to change their delivery dates
and time. So major problem associated with scheduling was to allot new time slots to the
vendors with minimum number of siftings.
It was required to keep the timing of vendors common for different delivery days. Say
Amazon distributors (P&G) is coming on Monday at 10:00am then on its next delivery i.e. on
Friday, it has to be scheduled at 10.00am. We needed to take care of it for all the vendors
for all the six days of the week.
Also ordering scheduled has to be taken into consideration. Suppose vendor lead time for
any vendor is 2 days and we want him to deliver the goods on Tuesday, and then it is difficult
to make it work because ordering cant take place on Sunday. Or else it will create
complexities.

Chapter -2
a) Methodology adopted its usefulness

To prepare schedule first it was necessary to calculate the total load on the distribution
centre and then distribute it accordingly.

It was difficult to find out one common parameter of the load for all the categories of
vendors, Because Size, volume, Weight, Unit of measurement of products are different
for different products. For example orders of staples generally are in Kilograms and that
of Food and Non food are in numbers.

Thus for seven days from Monday to Monday we traced the pattern of load on DC for
each vendor. Their incoming and outgoing time, time distribution in unloading,
arrangement, checking and assortment of SKUs.

Load on DC can be split into three parts majorly unloading, checking and assortment of
products according to the requirement of the different stores. But as far as vendor
turnaround time is concerned assortment makes no impact on it. So it was not worth
considering assortment time for vendor scheduling.

So, we considered unloading time (including arrangement of goods for checking by


vendor itself) and checking time.

Then on the basis of data collected we found that unloading is directly proportional to the
quantity of supply and checking time is in accordance with number of SKUs. So we
calculated the percentage wise breakup of the SKUs and the average order quantity per
order for each vendor.

Then by observation we collected the practical data for different sections namely- Food,
Non food and Staples. Their percentage breakup for the unloading and checking.

Then to calculate the common factor. We multiply (% Unloading time and % avg. order
quantity) + multiplication of (% Checking time and %number of SKUs) for each vendor.

Thus we got a common factor on the basis of which we could distribute the loads and
balance it accordingly.

But we realised that this method is working for Food and Non food vendors but the factor
coming for staples is not matching up with the practical observation. Few reasons behind
this could be quantity and volume of staples is huge and number of SKUs is limited, so
factor coming from it is not that much relevant.

Then we considered Food and Non food together and Staples separately and balanced it
separately.

Then we arranged all the vendors and made timeslots for each vendor so by following
the timetable each vendor will get sufficient time and space for its operations.

We presented it to our mentor, then after getting valuable feedback we did required
alterations in the schedule and got final approval.

b) Logical flow of the project, including adhering to the road map


i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
viii.

Project explained by our mentor to us.


Practical data collected for seven days in distribution centre, for 42 vendors.
Combined all the data and did necessary corrections.
From the collected data, calculated common load for all the vendors(food and
Non food)
Then balanced the vendors according to previous schedule and new load
factor.
Adjusted Staples vendor according to the existing loads.
Presented it to the Mentor and did necessary corrections.
After having a discussion with the vendors our Mentor finally approved the
project.

c) Benefits from the project as a student of management.

This project was undertaken by Anish dilip Diwadkar and Aakash bavariya. Only Title and
purpose of the project was communicated to us and full authority and responsibility was
given to complete the task by our Mentor. So together we developed the plan of action,
procedure to follow and calculated a common load factor for all the vendors of the DC. After
preparing the blue print we presented it to our mentor and after making proper changes as
per the feedback from him, then we prepared the schedule for the distribution centre.
As a student of management we have learnt how to handle the project from initial to end
and finish it within the prescribed time limit. We learnt how to handle all the complexities in
the project and time management. As this was the second and last project of ours after
Automatic replenishment system project, So time is also one of the major factor as we had
to finish the project before 30th May.

d) Benefits to the organization and your contribution to the team .

We had prepared the schedule of vendors for distribution centre and get it approved from
our mentor, also we got final approval from the vendors about the changes (3 changes). So
on paper project is approved and appreciated by the mentor, but feedback about the working
of the project will take at least one month to reflect. Finally functioning of the project totally
depends upon hoe well Company will implement the schedule and how strictly vendors
follow the time. If practically this theoretical schedule is implemented then the efficiency of
the distribution centre will surely improve.

Load is distributed and


Distribution centre is much
more organised.

Usefulness of the Project

Vendor turnaround time- It is the total time a vendor spend for delivering goods to
DC. Proper vendor scheduling helps to reduce vendor turnaround time. That helps to
make receiving more efficient and fast.

It is very important to maintain good relations with vendors as the whole system is
dependent on the supply chain and proper availability of material. So if the relations
with vendors are good then they provide good service and company may get added
advantage from it (in terms of offers and emergency deliveries at peak loads).

Man power will be utilised properly if the loads are properly distributed.

Further changes if required in the schedule can be done with much more ease.

Chapter- 3
Analysis of Data

We considered Food and Non food together and Staples separately and balanced both the
groups separately.
We have made the schedule and balanced it with minimum number of changes possible in
the existing schedule.
We have taken care about the timings of delivery for each vendor for all the delivery days in
the week. Each vendor is scheduled for same time on all the days when its delivery is
scheduled.
Unloading generally takes 86% time in case of staples. Majority of vendors for staples we
scheduled them for 1:00pm (last for the day) as 1:30pm is the deadline for Goods invert note
i.e. no vendor is allowed to come after 1:30pm. Thus for unloading staples vendors get free
path and space.
We also considered the factor for space availability, as proper spaces are allocated for each
type of products. Thus we tried to put a proper mix of vendors so that total space available in
DC can be used properly. It also reduces crowding at any place and hence chances of
collision.
Twice a week we kept loads less i.e. on Tuesday and Friday to clear the pileup if happens
and to clear the pending work and for maintenance.
HUL is the biggest vendor and its assortment takes maximum time. So we keep minimum
load on days next to HUL delivery i.e. Tuesday and Friday.

Chapter -4

Findings and conclusion


We prepared the vendor schedule for top 42 vendors as instructed by our Mentor by
following certain instructions from him. Then we presented the proposed schedule to our
mentor, and did required alterations as suggested by him and got final approval.
Practical implementation will at least take one month to notice the changes and see the
difference.

Bibliography
1) Definitions from Wikipedia.

Suggestions for improvement of the efficiency of the process

Use pallets whenever necessary, where sufficient space is available and when
quantity of goods is more.

When load is less then, available manpower should be used for maintenance.

If possible for Food and non food good assortment should be done in sequence with
unloading and checking.

Make proper arrangement for the Put away or ethnic goods and shift it as soon as
possible to racks.

Man power can be increased to fasten the process, avoids clogging of goods and to
avoid other irregularities.

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