Analysis of logistics operations and stock management at Unilever Canada

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Unilever Canada achieves its target customer service levels at the expense of high stock management costs as well as high outbound logistics costs at the distribution centers (DC). Unilever identifies stock management and logistics operations as two major processes that account for a big portion of supply chain costs, and faces the challenge of reducing stock and logistics costs while sustaining customer service levels. To address the challenge, Unilever needs to first develop a comprehensive understanding of its supply chain operations, to analyze stock management practices at the DCs, and to analyze outbound logistics operations. These tasks will be undertaken in this proposed research project. The project aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of all the Canadian supply chain processes, conduct through systems analysis, and develop descriptive and possibly predictive data analytics models. The research will make significant use of data. Both historical and forecast data will be used to develop descriptive analysis models that will turn data into useful information to identify potential areas of improvement. The descriptive models will be complemented with predictive tools to identify strengths and weaknesses of the supply chain operation.