Background
French Feline Foods is a major pet food manufacturer based in south-western France. Thanks
primarily to its gourmet range of cat foods, it has enjoyed phenomenal growth in recent years and
is now the major up-market cat food supplier in Europe. Its leading products include Fish Pie and
Beef with Vegetables.
This position of market dominance has led the owners to believe that further expansion can only
come through diversification and an opportunity has arisen to acquire Danish Dogs Dinners (DDD).
Your marketing director is particularly keen as he thinks that some of DDD products (e.g. Pickled
Herring) might go down well with FFFs customers.
However, your Chief Executive Officer is concerned that, the Danish company has problems with
particular regard to distribution. He has asked you to ‘look at the situation’, and write a report.
Data
Encouragingly, your CEO has taken the trouble to provide you with some data to work with and,
attached on the following pages, you will find:-
• Estimated monthly shipment volumes for each of the companies – Appendix A
• Existing factory & depot locations together with summarised costs – Appendix B
• A scale map of Europe showing the relevant locations – Appendix C
• Latitude and Longitude values for all of the relevant locations – Appendix D
You will need to make some assumptions about likely distribution costs, distances, possible
methods of transport etc. Fortunately you recently attended a reunion at Cranfield and met an old
colleague who provided some information on transport costs in Europe. For convenience, these
are reproduced as part of Appendix B.
YOUR TASK
Examine the production and distribution networks of FFF and DDD and prepare a report detailing
your proposals for changes to the network in the short and long term and the potential savings
achievable. You do not need to submit your Excel model – a summary of your results should be
included in the report. Your report should be no more than 2000 words (excluding references and
appendices)
Your report should include:
a) An analysis of the current distribution networks for FFF and DDD including:
a. The total cost for the FFF and DDD operations – including a brief description of the
model set up and a presentation of the calculated costs. (25 Marks)
b. A map of the current distribution networks (5 Marks)
c. A brief analysis of the current situation – including identification of the dominating
cost, a discussion of the root causes of the calculated costs and graphs (15 Marks)
b) A proposal for how you would combine the distribution networks of the two companies in the
short term (1 – 2yrs) including details of the changes you would make. Your proposal should
include:
a. An estimate of the savings you expect to be achieved. (10 Marks)
b. A discussion and justification of the reasons for your proposed changes. (15 Marks)
(Note: In this timescale it will not be possible to acquire and open new facilities or reconfigure
manufacturing plants, but facilities may be closed if required).
c) A proposal for how the network could be modified in the longer term – you should include
logical reasons and justification for your ideas and an estimate of the savings that could be
achieved. (25 Marks)
d) A map of either your long or short term proposal. (5 Marks)
Marks will be awarded to each section according to the marks in brackets
