Optimizing Apparel Pack Sizes Across Retailer’s North America Network
Athletic apparel companies outsource apparel manufacturing to many factories that pack in varied sizes and quantities. Packaging is a critical, early step in retailers’ supply chains. Pack quantities impact downstream supply chain costs. Optimizing the relationship between pack quantities and downst...
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| Format: | Thesis |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/154180 |
| _version_ | 1826209473561100288 |
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| author | Teno, Jason |
| author2 | Welsch, Roy E. |
| author_facet | Welsch, Roy E. Teno, Jason |
| author_sort | Teno, Jason |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Athletic apparel companies outsource apparel manufacturing to many factories that pack in varied sizes and quantities. Packaging is a critical, early step in retailers’ supply chains. Pack quantities impact downstream supply chain costs. Optimizing the relationship between pack quantities and downstream costs allows retailers to reduce unnecessary repackaging within their local distribution centers. This research created a discrete optimization model aimed to minimize distribution center costs as a function of pack sizes. As sales orders trend lower due to an increase in e-commerce sales, the optimization model suggested decreasing pack sizes to accommodate these trends and decrease the variation in pack sizes across product classifications. Immediate implementation would result in a 13.2% reduction in repackaging costs. After implementation, communication with customers to match sales orders to pack sizes would result in a 39.2% reduction in repackaging costs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:23:05Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/154180 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:23:05Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1541802024-04-18T03:21:22Z Optimizing Apparel Pack Sizes Across Retailer’s North America Network Teno, Jason Welsch, Roy E. Wu, Cathy Sloan School of Management Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Athletic apparel companies outsource apparel manufacturing to many factories that pack in varied sizes and quantities. Packaging is a critical, early step in retailers’ supply chains. Pack quantities impact downstream supply chain costs. Optimizing the relationship between pack quantities and downstream costs allows retailers to reduce unnecessary repackaging within their local distribution centers. This research created a discrete optimization model aimed to minimize distribution center costs as a function of pack sizes. As sales orders trend lower due to an increase in e-commerce sales, the optimization model suggested decreasing pack sizes to accommodate these trends and decrease the variation in pack sizes across product classifications. Immediate implementation would result in a 13.2% reduction in repackaging costs. After implementation, communication with customers to match sales orders to pack sizes would result in a 39.2% reduction in repackaging costs. S.M. M.B.A. 2024-04-17T21:09:24Z 2024-04-17T21:09:24Z 2023-06 2023-07-14T20:00:27.924Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/154180 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright retained by author(s) https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Teno, Jason Optimizing Apparel Pack Sizes Across Retailer’s North America Network |
| title | Optimizing Apparel Pack Sizes Across Retailer’s North America Network |
| title_full | Optimizing Apparel Pack Sizes Across Retailer’s North America Network |
| title_fullStr | Optimizing Apparel Pack Sizes Across Retailer’s North America Network |
| title_full_unstemmed | Optimizing Apparel Pack Sizes Across Retailer’s North America Network |
| title_short | Optimizing Apparel Pack Sizes Across Retailer’s North America Network |
| title_sort | optimizing apparel pack sizes across retailer s north america network |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/154180 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tenojason optimizingapparelpacksizesacrossretailersnorthamericanetwork |